Autumn Reflection
by Lau-kun
Summary: Events to draw two hearts together unfold, centuries in the making. ExT romance, comedy, action fic. Warning: Not for short term readers or readers with short attention span.
1. Winter Season Part One v1

**SEASON OF WINTER  
**Part One v1  
**By: Lau-kun**

**Disclaimer: **A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Okay... that's putting it mildly... XD)

Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones. And I would really like to mention, first of all, VampirePeaches for beta reading this fiction! Woohoo! You did a marvelous job! You really made my day, seriously! Thanks a bunch, Vampy! C3 This goes to YOU... and to all my reviewers and readers! Hugs and kisses! A/N at end... C3

* * *

**Winter**

Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.

* * *

Twenty-five-year-old Kinomoto Sakura was having her occasional ramblings in her best friend's office. Her voice was mild and gentle; matched with pleading green eyes and deep emphasis upon each laid-out fact — but still, she was rambling about how her best friend had been so set in her WORK That She Doesn't Even SEEM to NOTICE that it's already high time for the winter festivities, OR even the FACT that it's already DECEMBER; AAAND if she KEEPS that UP, her BEST FRIEND — she breathed — HER VERY BEST FRIEND would forget how she ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE and would most likely spend her TIME in her room trying to remember when TOMOYO-CHAN last went out with them to have FUN... which was down to the point of exaggeration, mind you, but Sakura Kinomoto, was in fact, desperate.

"And the last time WEwent out together, which was LAST year'sautumn festival," Sakura paused for oxygen and momentum, "You RAN off to ATTEND an EMERGENCY BOARD meeting even though we've ONLY been there for an HOUR! —AN HOUR, Tomoyo-chan!" She radiated an aura of disbelief and disappointment, "And we were just deciding if we would RIDE the roller coaster or DROWN Kero in the pond for eating ALL the chocolates Syaoran-kun won!"

Tomoyo pouted. It's not like she wanted to attend that stupid emergency meeting anyway. "But it's—"

"—Come on, Tomoyo-chaaaaaaaaaan..." Sakura leaned from across Tomoyo's office desk, "We haven't been out for _ages_! Couldn't you at least make an exemption for your _best friend_?" A pair of thick lashes batted at Tomoyo.

She blinked and sighed, firm in her resolve though she's already finding it difficult to refuse an opportunity to be with Sakura. "I'd really love to Sakura-chan, but I—"

"—But WHAT?" Whined Sakura.

Tomoyo got as far as saying "—bu—" since Sakura was obviously determined to splatter her reasoning down a puddle of mud.

"—PRETTY _PLEASE?_" She pouted cutely.

And at this, Tomoyo found her resolve wavering.

She would really love to go to the festival but whenever her eyes strayed towards the stacks of paperwork littering her desk, she could feel her skull cracking. It was hard, really hard, to refuse such favors — ANY favors — from Sakura-chan but the paper works, she thought, were _really _and _stubbornly _demanding her attention. And the actual fact that Sakura-chan was doing the same — _really _and _stubbornly _demanding her attention — gave her ideas of seeking the consultation of a neurologist due to severe splitting headaches.

It was official. She was being railroaded.

"I KNOW you have a lot of work to do, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura flumped on the nearest chair, "I understand you have responsibilities but it is NOT an excuse to WORK your head off and besides," she stopped and smiled at Tomoyo, "Louise-chan told me you've finished most of your work due for this month so it's basically alright if you take some time to relax."

Tomoyo bit her lower lip. That is a fact. But she couldn't believe her secretary's being a turncoat too.

"_Aaand_ your mother thinks—" Sakura jumped on her feet, gleefully. "—You could use a break from work too!"

"Really now?" Tomoyo's drawl implied something like she was more interested in observing a sloth for hours. She wasn't, the least, surprised hearing her mother's involvement in this one... heck, she wouldn't be surprised at all if her mother does something more than organize a thing like this.

"Not exactly," Sakura thoughtfully stared at the ceiling, "But I do remember her saying something about dragging you out of the house and locking the doors until you take a break." What she said gave her a confusing image of Tomoyo being dragged halfway across the street by Sonomi with a maniacal grin, saying 'Sakura-chaaaaaaaan! I brought Tomoyo-chan with me!' which she batted away mentally before something more confusing invaded her peculiar imagination.

"Oh..." Tomoyo cringed. At least that wasn't as bad as banning her from the company building if she didn't go out with Sakura-chan and Li-kun.

"Well?" Sakura asked again, hopefully.

Tomoyo saw the pleading look in her best friend's green eyes, and decided she made the wrong move.

"Please, Tomoyo-chan?" Pleaded Sakura, "We're all worried about you." And the thing that Tomoyo hated most was making Sakura-chan worry. "Just this once. Just to cool your head off." Desperately, _desperately _worried from the looks of it; and it gave her less pleasure, knowing that she was the cause of Sakura-chan's distress.

So, for the trillionth time since third grade, Daidouji Tomoyo was at a total loss.

* * *

Five hours later, she found herself sighing as she maneuvered around the crowded festival grounds.

She knew Sakura-chan was just looking after her. What best friend wouldn't anyway? Considering the fact that they've been best friends for over ten years and their familial bonds of being third–degree cousins, sort of makes them sisters, one way or the other. So, that would only explain why Sakura-chan would want to look after her, right?

She made a face.

That was _supposed_ to be her job but somewhere between college and…well, until now, their lives switched.

Back in elementary and high school, it was 'Tomoyo looks after Sakura-chan'; in college, 'Sakura-chan looks after Tomoyo'; and now, rewinding over a year or two, it went something like this: '_everybody_ takes care of Tomoyo'.

She made a worse face.

They're making it look like she couldn't take care of herself. And anyway, one wouldn't call working for their company's welfare such a bad thing, right?

Heaving one heavy sigh and rubbing her aching temple, she finally told herself to stop rambling and start concentrating on finding her companions. It probably wouldn't do her any good and the best way to remedy the whole situation was to get it over with. She craned her neck around until finally, she saw who exactly she was looking for.

A pair of iolite met another pair of emeralds. Then the owner of the latter smiled warmly at her.

"Good evening, Tomoyo-chaaaaan!" Sakura half dragged her fiancé from across the masses of humanity.

"Good evening, Sakura-chan—" Tomoyo looked up to the man beside her best friend. "—Good evening, Li-kun."

Li nodded, politely. "I do hope Sakura didn't threaten you to come."

"That's entirely mean, Syaoran-kun!" Pouted Sakura, cutely. Li fought the urge to imitate a ripe tomato, and failed. "I wouldn't do that to Tomoyo-chan."

"Well, the impression we had says otherwise..." Popped a voice from Sakura's pocket, "If you only saw her yesterday, you'd think she'd EAT someone."

"KERO-CHAN!" Sakura glared; veins visibly swelled on her balled fist. The plush toy laughed nervously and ducked an inch just to play safe.

"Not really..." Answered Tomoyo in her usual cheer. "I have all the intention of coming especially when my mother stuffed me inside the car about an hour after I got home."

Li-kun and Kero-chan cringed.

They were probably thinking about the time when they first encountered her mother, balling up some nasty curve they didn't expect. Both of them had seen Daidouji Sonomi deal with Tomoyo's growing workaholic — or as they said she had, she amended — habit, and she remembered Li-kun saying something about how Sonomi equaled her own mother's talents in giving the heebie-jeebies in a spearing glance, if not worse.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't drag you out as she said she would..." Sakura suddenly looked distressed as the image crossed her mind again. "...That would seem pretty scary."

Beads of sweat trailed down everyone's head save for Sakura who was momentarily busy at being confused.

One thing or another, as she had already explained to everyone, Daidouji Sonomi stuffed her inside the car — followed by an army of bodyguards — and directed an order — which came out with darting glares enough to kill the smallest living thing in existence—that she, at all cost, shouldn't BEallowed to go home BEFORESakura-chan confirms they're done with their business and all.

She inwardly sighed. Mothers would always be mothers.

"Well then," Tomoyo suddenly perked up, grinning. "Since we're all out here to have fun..." She paused dramatically, and saw Li-kun swallow something hard on his throat. Her grin widened. "Why don't we have some shots taken, ne, Kero-chan?" Instantly, she produced a camcorder from her bag.

The couple hit the ground with an unhealthy sounding thud.

"I guess old habits die hard, huh?" A conniving Kero-chan grinned; making sure everyone was seeing most of his sharp teeth then healthily cackled.

A huge sweat drop fell down the couple's heads.

Tomoyo threw a fit of her evil "Ohohoho", and explained to Kero-chan she had reasons. "Besides," she said, "It's been a long time since I got the chance to capture anything on video. I must take every opportunity that passes without hesitation!" She rubbed her trusty equipment, feigning innocence and an aura of delight — dangerous delight, amended Li-kun, since whenever Tomoyo does something of the sort, it usually involved him being red all over the face, if he was lucky; and if he was not, he'd consider himself lucky the human anatomy doesn't let out clouds of steam in openings, else he'd be a living steam reservoir enough to power a small apartment by now.

Li-kun sighed resignedly; another bead of sweat rolled down his head at the thought of the price he had to pay just to get Tomoyo out of the wrecking havoc her work had been causing. Of course, he knew there was something more to it but decided to settle on that particular fact at the moment to avoid ruining the entire mood...

And as for Sakura-chan - "H-Hoeeeee..." - was all that she could utter.

* * *

"There she is..." Snickered a winged female, puffing out an air of evil delight as she kept herself afloat in the isolated part of the vicinity, "Apparently, bringing in the company as expected." She turned to face a hooded man and a grinning white tiger.

"Company is good..." Said the tiger, "even though the odds are different..." He jeered at Sakura-tachi some yards away.

"With or against?" the femaleupped an eyebrow.

"Against..." Answered their master, gleefully.

Silence as the word was processed, then his guardians turned one horrified look at him.

"WHAAAAAAAT!"

They were at the point of hyperventilating.

* * *

Tomoyo turned and thoughtfully placed a finger on her lower lip.

"Is there something wrong, Tomoyo-chan?" asked the plush toy on her shoulder.

"I just thought I heard someone shrieking." she murmured. "I must've imagined it..."

"Huh?" Kero-chan blinked some more, obviously confused. "Did you say something?"

"Oh..." Tomoyo stared at the woods for a while, then cocked her head to smile at Kero, "It was nothing..."

"Well, we BETTER hurry up or Sakura and that BRAT would eat all those chocolates again!"

Tomoyo sweat dropped. "You sure love sweets don't you?" The smile she offered came out as a funny grimace.

"Of course!" He answered, crisply as they walked over to where Sakura and Li-kun were.

* * *

"Calm down..." The hooded figure was batting his hand at an already fuming tiger.

The winged female could only stare, dot-eyed.

"Calm _down_?" The hyperventilating tiger inhaled sharply, resembling someone who was having a heart attack. "CALM _DOWN_?" He snarled. "How can YOU calm down when YOU'RE aware of the FACT that YOU'RE ABOUT to face the MOST powerful BEING that ever graced this PLANET'S surface?" He stopped and stared at his master's obnoxious smiling face. "AND I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE'RE _LIGHT YEARS_ AHEAD OF THEM?" The tiger — trying his best, with an effort, not to imitate two round saucers with his eyes — was torn between glancing down at Sakura-tachi and skewering his master in a glance.

"That's why I said against..." Said their master, smiling, "Against them..."

The tiger dramatically fell over with a thump, six to ten feet in mid air, before blasting off to face his master with a pair of annoyed eyes. "WELLWHYDIDN'TYOUSAYSO?" Veins visibly swelled on his head.

"Well, dumb head," the winged femalefinally got the hang of the situation and pulled out her most annoying smart-ass look, "You were fussing too much and you didn't even give him the chance to explain."

"WHAT WAS THAT!" screeched the tiger.

"I said, dumb head," jeered his female cohort. "YOU. WERE. YAPPING. TOO. MUCH." She finished with a flourish.

"I WASN'T!" countered the tiger, screeching up a notch.

"Well," the hooded man choked, trying to remedy the situation with a cheerful smile. "We won't accomplish anything if you guys keep that up..."

The winged tiger grumbled, looking ready to bite her head off. The winged female only gave him a funny sneering look.

"So now that everything's fine..." He raised his staff, which was now emitting a golden glow. "Let's do our handful of work now, shall we?"

His guardians nodded and took their leave, while their master allowed one evil smirk.

* * *

Sakura halted and turned, eyes locked at a particular tree.

Tomoyo looked at her. "Sakura-chan?" she blinked. "Is there anything wrong?" She turned her head towards the tree, then back to Sakura, Kero and Syaoran.

"This is..." mumbled Sakura, narrowing her eyes.

A pause followed.

Then a ripping sense of déjà vu hit them as they stared at the disappearing mass of people on the grounds.

"Clow's aura!" Sakura, Syaoran and Kero chorused.

Tomoyo was left to stare at her companions, a bit confused at the ongoing event, "But I don't understand..." she said; Kero transformed into his true form; Sakura called her staff; and Li brought his sword out. All of them were warily looking around for any signs of... well, anything at all. "Didn't Sakura-cha—"

An arrow barely missed her arm long before she could finish her sentence.

"Tomoyo-chan!" chorused Sakura and Cerberus before the trio jumped closer to protect her from the blitz of sapphire shards that followed.

"Why would Clow Reed do something like this?" The Li was glaring around, not at all liking the position they're in. "Or maybe THAT Hiiragizawa's back and pulling his strings again..."

Sakura shook her head vehemently. "Eriol-kun wouldn't hurt Tomoyo-chan. He wouldn't hurt anyone at all..."

Two skeptical pairs of eyes shot at her. "How can you explain the piano then?" grumbled Cerberus and Li at the same time, obviously digging up things in the past to throw at the currently absent Eriol.

Tomoyo sweat dropped. "It only frightened me but I wasn't really hurt..."

Cerberus and Li snorted, actually agreeing with each other. "He did a pretty good scare at that..." they chorused, somewhat sarcastically.

Then the shards stopped coming.

It ceased coming but it didn't take away the heavy air that alerted them. More so, it was only then did they sense two different and fairly new auras that popped out of nowhere after the attacks have come. And that alerted them even more. The magnitude of the shard attack was too much too bring them any comfort, added to the fact that it came and went, suspiciously, like the wind would after blowing its soothing gusts.

Well, for starters, as Cerberus thought, deadly and pointy shards are far _different _from the wind, and the thought of having contact with one is definitely NOT soothing. "It's gone..." Cerberus warily lowered his barrier and inspected the grounds, suspiciously. "Did you feel it, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded, "Two of them..."

"And it's not Clow." added Li, darkly.

Another silence passed; and things were getting a bit weird for Sakura. The sounds of music and the noisy barrages of people were suddenly replaced by an eerie air of gloomy silence. And the same eerie air of gloomy silence was somehow giving Sakura a very unsettling picture of herself, being eaten by a zombie — she, in a platter with an apple stuffed on her mouth, while the zombie was holding a fork and a knife and the whole eating regalia — wishing it self a bon appetite. She immediately pushed that aside before her overactive imagination went to overdrive.

The Li suddenly groaned. "If I ever find out that THAT Hiiragizawa's behind all this," he paused and glared around even more. "I swear I'll —" he abruptly stopped then turned; eyes doubling the size of a large platter as he raised his sword to intercept another sword...

The sound of steel clashing with steel ended the flowing silence.

And when Tomoyo, Cerberus and Sakura turned, they saw Li, in sword contact with a black-winged female; holding her katana firmly with a dangerous visible smirk.

* * *

"That—" Touya heaved another box and panted, heavily. "Should be the last of it..."

Yukito inspected the box and wrote something on the record sheet in his hand. "Checked!" he said, looking up to his companion cheerfully. "All we have to do now is to—" his eyes widened.

"Yuki?" Asked Touya, wary of the sudden change in his companion's behavior, then he saw Yukito transform. "What's up again this time?" Touya looked agitated, narrowing his eyes and doing a complete carbon copy image of Bad Badtz Maru.

"A new threat has come..." answered Yue, in his normally inexplicable seriousness that bordered on gloom and... well, gloom alone suits it, thought Touya, since Yukito's true form had been doing nothing but bite retorting and bored comments at him from day one. Sometimes, he wondered whether Yue has some hidden grudge against the whole world and was planning to blow it up one day. "I need to go and help my mistress."

Touya hesitated for a moment, half considering leaving their work in favor of her sister, but then again... "I'll cover for you. Don't let ANYTHING happen to Sakura and Tomoyo."

Yue stared at him, looking bored. "That's the reason why I'm going there..."

Touya smiled. "Just checking." He glared at thin air again, looking doubly annoyed. "And tell kaijuu and the brat, they have a lot to explain later."

Yue looked absolutely bored. "Anything more?"

Touya sweat dropped. "Would you loosen up once in a while?"

Yue huffed at him, "Go find Akizuki..." he flew away and left Touya, who allowed a small, fond smile graze his lips.

* * *

Tomoyo was observing the winged female from behind the camcorder once more. At first, she thought that the female had beautiful black hair, cut on the waist but then, as she maneuvered the camcorder, when the moon's ray hits her hair; it revealed some hidden streaks of heavy blue. A silver crown-like ornament, adorned with a huge diamond-cut sapphire, glittered on her forehead; and a black scabbard with silver patterns hung high on her hips to sheath the katana on her hand; now mirroring the sharpness of her piercing orbs of green-gray. It was unlike Yue-san's vertical irises, she thought, but it definitely bore the same — if not more — intense and intimidating glint.

The obvious fairness of her skin was hidden underneath the black, turtleneck trench coat; she also wore a silver armband on her right arm, embedded with the symbol of the moon. And as she moved around in different strokes, which Li-kun intercepted with his sword, Tomoyo realized she was also wearing a pair of midnight blue pants and a pair of black boots.

She was far different from either Yue or Ruby Moon, as she had remembered. But still, she stared at them — it sort of revealed something about her personality as much as Yue's and Ruby Moon's clothing did.

"Who are you?" Li-kun demanded. The female merely flashed him a lopsided smile and lounged another attack.

At this, Tomoyo thought of black. Mysterious. Elegant. And dark.

"What do you want?" She heard Li demand again, trying his very best to keep her sword away from his skin. A couple of strokes were made, coming from above, the side and other more complex maneuvers but at one instance, Li-kun had seemingly caught an edge and used it to his advantage...

He ducked then lunged his sword forward with precision, trying to aim for the female's waist, but then, he hit thin air between her torso and her wings, clearly giving her the advantage of striking down Li with her katana. Li was in definite danger as she had anticipated, especially now that her katana was raised...

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura pulled the Shield card out of her pocket.

But then, she did what they didn't expect. The female took the momentum and grabbed Li's arm, pulling him down to flump on the ground.

Silver. The color said to imply hope in bad weather. Hidden goodness.

She looked up towards their direction and allowed an evil grin. Her wings spread out, and immediately, she made a flying dash towards Tomoyo and Sakura...

Genuine in plans, sterling in nature... That of which blue represents.

She raised her sword, ready to cut down either of the two.

"Sakura-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" Shouted Cerberus, making a move forward but was interrupted when someone pounced his path with grace and lithe. "What the—?" was all he could mutter as he came face to face with a heavily armored, white tiger.

Cerberus glared.

The white tiger turned a challenging lopsided grin.

Cerberus's glare intensified, promising death if he wouldn't step aside.

"Sword!" He heard Sakura summon in no less than a quarter of a second. Then, it was followed by the intercepting sound of steel clashing, hanging in the air.

"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo called out from behind Sakura, who obviously, jumped in front to intercept the sword, regardless of which their enemy was really targeting. Sakura had fended herself a time too many with the sword card but with the incredible skill of her attacker, she was having a hard time stopping the katana from making dangerous contact with her skin.

On the other hand, Cerberus, now comforted at the thought that her mistress and Tomoyo-chan were safe — well, he amended, a bit safe, since they were still struggling from keeping the female bird away from their necks — was busily surveying his opponent's appearance and was somehow quite amused at the bold display of the sun's symbol on his black breastplate. Without a single doubt, he thought, Clow Reed made this guy. He and the tiger shared the same mode of power source and the crest was undeniably similar. A diamond-cut sapphire that resembled his companion's and silver patterns also adorned the helm that covered his head down the upper portion of his spine, then he noticed that he was also wearing an armband that resembled his cohort's own, only it bore the crest of the sun.

"Get out of my way. NOW," warned Cerberus, darkly, his eyes setting upon the jeering look the tiger was making. Aside from the bigger-than-him department — not that he really cared as Cerberus fondly reminded himself constantly — his looks were gentler and less fierce, contrasting with that of his companion's naturally intimidating persona. But, the tiger settled for a viler look, Cerberus was not foolish to let that kind of thought get inside his head. And Cerberus, being the creature that he was, knew true power when he sensed one. "What do you want?"

The tiger merely turned an evil, little smile at him.

And officially, that did it. "If you won't answer me then," he snarled, setting his paws firmly on the ground. "Get outta my way!" He opened his mouth and breathed fire, forcing the other to conjure up radiance from his mouth too...

Midnight blue and fiery red collided; making a distinct sound of deafening explosion intertwining together with Cerberus' agonizing scream from the impact it made, filling in the entire place with a blend of white light.

"Kero-chan!" chorused Tomoyo and Sakura.

Tomoyo immediately ran towards the plush toy while Sakura, on her momentary hiccup of concentration, was almost reduced to half.

Good thing Li was near to catch it for her just in time. "Go and help Cerberus!"

Sakura obeyed and ran to aid her injured guardian.

The winged female quirked a mocking eyebrow at Li and gave him a sword salute — bringing it upright to chest level.

Li did the same, as much as courteousness was followed, then continued their dual.

* * *

"You're hurt!" cried Sakura, inspecting the burn on her guardian's side and looking at him quite worriedly.

"I'm alright, Tomoyo-chan... Sakura-chan..." he tried to look okay but failed from the obvious slicing pain. "Really... it's just a scratch…" he winced. Sakura and Tomoyo threw him a 'We Believe Yamazaki's Stories More Than You Claiming To Be Alright Because You're A Terrible Liar' kind of Look. "I just didn't expect him to be that powerful, that's all..." he levered himself up then dropped on the ground, heavily. "Damn..." he winced some more, "I think I sprained... something..."

So much for saying he's all right.

"I'll take care of it, Kero-chan." Sakura patted him, gently, "You look terribly hurt."

"Naaah..." Cerberus shook his head in disagreement. "It's okay..." he grimaced and winced again; forcing the funny look out of his face with a smile, though Tomoyo and Sakura thought he looked like someone who was forced to eat bitter herbs. "Really..."

Sakura and Tomoyo threw him the same Look.

"I really think you should let Sakura-chan handle it, Kero-chan." Cerberus made a motion to protest again but Tomoyo silenced him with a 'No Cookies And Other Sweets For YOU If You DON'T Listen To ME' kind of Look. "And no 'buts'!" she scolded him mildly, smiling, as if explaining to a small child that cookies and milk comes _after_ naptime, not before, honey.

Sakura agreed with a cheerful nod. Tomoyo was still throwing Looks at him. And Cerberus, well, he got Tomoyo's message and read it thoroughly, as if it was written in a well-designed parchment, and actually revered it as if it was the holiest of things in this world. He sighed in resignation. The cookies and other sweets were not — well, not entirely at least, thought Kero — the things that stopped him from putting up an argument. It went to the part that he knew it was pointless to argue with a determined Sakura and Tomoyo, who had their own unique ways of getting things when they wanted it, forcibly or not. "Okay..." he whispered resignedly; turning towards the white tiger who was smiling... gently...? His thoughts faded. Then, he blinked once. Twice.

He blinked some more. Then he decided the wound _must_ be worse than he thought since he's _definitely_ having a delirium.

He shook his head and stared, strangely, at the tiger, which was wearing a smug expression. He shook his head again and deduced, somewhat in a desperate way, it was just his imagination playing dirty tricks on him, or perhaps his wound was having its effects and all or... well, heck, he doesn't know. As long as it was JUST his imagination, he didn't give a damn.

"Take care of Kero-chan for me, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura positioned herself in front of her guardian then pulled a card. "Windy!"

The windy card swerved and triedto bind the tiger with its wind chain. Unfortunately, he formed a barrier around himself and pranced closer to Sakura with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Sakura stood her ground and thought quickly. Despite its reliability, Windy didn't always work in extreme cases plus it was one of the gentlest cards in the deck, so she figured to use something feistier, "Watery!" She pulled out another card. "Freeze!" She summoned the card in an attempt to trap the tiger — which in turn, had his eyes abruptly widening in surprise — in a block of ice.

"Did you get him, Sakura-chan?" Asked Tomoyo, trying to see past the smoky fog that blocked their vision. All of them were sure the tiger was caught inside the ice block but then again, they couldn't be too sure unless they could see it with their own eyes. So, they waited. And when they could, something rang the alarm bells.

"Watch out!" Li's eyes were as wide as saucers, attempting to dash forward but his opponent was giving him a hard time. "Sakura!" He desperately yelled then saw the same light, radiating behind the girls and Cerberus. He didn't know what to do, and not knowing exactly what to do was one thing Syaoran didn't like. So in effect, a sudden surge of rage pulsated through his veins, subconsciously making him grit his teeth and launch one forceful full-strength attack.

He couldn't let anything happen to them. Nothing should happen to them.

And all the while that he was repeating that mantra on his head, he wasn't even aware he had already, somehow, brought the female to the ground, struggling to keep his blade at bay.

Tomoyo noticed the horrified look on Li-kun's face then swirled, followed shortly by Kero-chan and Sakura-chan.

Their eyes briefly widened at the sight before them.

Radiance was coming out of the tiger's mouth.

"Sakura-chan!" she heard Cerberus shout and saw him leap in front of her mistress on impulse.

It was too late to react. So, doing the only thing that came in her blank mind, Tomoyo did what she could do...

Kero-chan cocked his head and was horrified to see Tomoyo, boldly standing in front of them; arms open and eyes tightly shut to brace her self for the incoming impact. And, even though all of them knew she would get seriously hurt — gross understatement of the year — she didn't care because this was all for Sakura-chan. And if it was for Sakura-chan then everything was worth it.

"Tomoyo-chan!" screamed Sakura, her eyes widening to the size of soccer balls.

Everything will be alright...

"Daidouji!" screamed Li-kun, at a loss of what to do...

The beam was released and white light covered the entire grounds.

* * *

**TSUZUKU**

a.) Again, I edited it. XD A lot of people had been telling me it's too long. XD XD XD (sighs)


	2. Winter Season Part One v2

**SEASON OF WINTER  
**Part One v2  
**By: Lau-kun**

**Disclaimer: **A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Okay... that's putting it mildly... XD)

Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones. And I would really like to mention, first of all, VampirePeaches for beta reading this fiction! Woohoo! You did a marvelous job! You really made my day, seriously! Thanks a bunch, Vampy! C3 This goes to YOU... and to all my reviewers and readers! Hugs and kisses! A/N at end... C3

* * *

**Winter**

Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.

* * *

They say that regrets always come particularly at the end of things. It doesn't come at the beginning, or the middle; but always at the end. It comes when someone passes the state wherein that someone cannot do anything anymore to remedy the situation. It comes when we know we cannot do anything more to change the course of our lives.

And as for Tomoyo...

The only regret she had at that moment was failing to tell Sakura-chan her feelings. Tell her how glad she was meeting the best, best friend in the whole world. Tell her how nice it had been that Sakura-chan considered her closer than any blood sister would...

But she didn't regret not telling her, she's the one whom she loves best... with all her heart.

Emptiness came in and consumed her. The warmth and light of the beam came closer to the proximity wherein it had already invaded the darkness, clothing her vision. Then, not knowing exactly when, she was suddenly aware of calmness and comfort, surrounding her like a very protective embrace. It was somewhat odd, but she had somehow felt a puzzling similarity whenever she was holding Sakura-chan to give comfort to... or vice versa.

Very puzzling indeed, since she never knew she could feel it elsewhere other than with the person whom she loves best. What more, it was in the presence of danger. But then, as she tightened her eyes to brace herself from the pain, she was suddenly aware she was calling out for someone to save her... deep down, she was calling out for someone to save her.

She realized she wanted and needed someone to save her.

She needed someone who would save her from danger and the constant feeling of emptiness she had been concealing for... her thoughts stopped.

Emptiness? Concealing?

And that was enough to slap her self back to consciousness.

She suddenly realized that the feelings of calmness, comfort and protection were being emitted, not by the energy wave of their opponent but, in fact by the same person who bore the rich scent of musk, filling in her nostrils and—

"Daidouji-san..." and a deep, soothing male's voice, "Are you alright?"

She was left to wonder when her arms had slid around his waist for support.

"Tomoyo-chan! Yue-san!" she heard Sakura call out, immediately making Tomoyo's head snap up to the man, holding her in his arms.

"Eriol-kun!" Then, Sakura added, gladly.

Tomoyo just stared at him, eyes locked at his bespectacled pair of blue, comparable to that of a pair of dazzling sapphires — or whether she was in fact, gaping, she wasn't really sure at the moment since her brain had most likely been reduced to a pathetic pulp, somewhere, in a different dimension.

Hiiragizawa smiled worriedly at her. He gave her the same encrypted smile she used to see back when they were still in elementary, only, the smile that he was currently giving her rested more on the worried side, rather than the familiarly gentle one he uses whenever his eyes rest upon Sakura-chan. "Daidouji-san?" he asked again.

Tomoyo immediately pulled away and nodded, not trusting herself to speak since she had a horrible feeling it would come out as a squeak.

Hiiragizawa understood her in a glance — how he did, she'll never know — then cocked his head to look at Yue, holding up a shield to protect them. "Thank you, Yue-san..."

Yue merely glanced at him over his shoulder, wearing a sort-of smug expression that bordered on acidity and — well, the normal Yue-san look would do, description terms.

"Tomoyo-chaaaan..." bellowed Cerberus, darkly. Tomoyo turned and found herself a couple of inches away from Cerberus, making a funny face that could be described as someone who had been smacked, dead on the face, by a frying pan; with a sort of accusing streak. She could tell he almost had a heart attack. "Why pull a stunt like that, huh, Tomoyo-chan? You SCARED us..." A single bead of sweat trailed down her head, exactly at the loss of explanation.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, stopped then turned when she caught something within her sight's perimeter. She would've regarded it as a shadow lurking behind Syaoran-kun, but when said 'shadow' suddenly held up a sword right above her fiancé's head, she knew, it was utterly different. Her eyes widened. "SYAORAN-KUN!" She screamed.

Li pivoted and did a hopeless counter; already anticipating something to split his skull open...

But it never came.

He was only, briefly, aware of something red hitting his opponent, sending her a few feet back.

"My, my..." said a highly amused voice, "Your shooting skills have improved, Spinel." It was Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun.

"I've had target practices with Nakuru-kun..." Answered the Larger Version of the Plush Toy. "...Thanks." he continued, more or less, dryly, landing a second later beside Ruby Moon with unusual seriousness.

* * *

"Well..." said the hooded man, "It's nice to see you again..." He upturned a lopsided smile, emanating fondness — evil fondness — in all directions. "... Eriol-kun."

Golden light flashed around him, brightly.

* * *

A sudden surge of magical electricity filled the air.

As it is so, it was felt by everyone on the grounds — well, maybe with the exemption of Tomoyo, who regarded it as some nasty wind coming somewhere from the Arctic Region, or perhaps someone was holding out one of those humongous fans, even though it was December — standing firmly from where they were located and making assessments, whether either of them would prance that way or this way.

The wind made another blustering motion. Then, Sakura stepped forward, giving Raven and Cyrus a dose of her Look — which of course, was easily recognized by Li and Tomoyo since it was the one that she often gives whenever Tomoyo wiggles herself out of her plans for the weekends, or Li saying that spending the day with her onii-chan was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard off (last time he said that, Touya and Syaoran found themselves stuck in the maze card and when they got out, Sakura was smiling at them with a cheerful See? You didn't kill each Other inside the maze card so you CAN get along with each other! The two could only scowl and glare at each other even more, which was silenced by another Look that promised something more than the Maze Card) — "Who are you and why are you doing this?" Everyone could only guess where she had been hiding THAT side for SO long.

The black-winged beings stared at her for a while, then glanced at each other. Then, stared back at them again before finally spreading their wings to bullet themselves, straight up in the air.

Yue rocketed after them, and so did Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun in hot pursuit.

"Yue!" called Ruby Moon, throwing in a batch of her ruby shards after Yue's. "I wanna hit them as much as you do but we HAVE to be careful!"

Spinel was right beside her, blasting a few good rounds of his beam and was getting accurateat each and every shot. But somehow, their opponents kept on dodging it.

Yue slightly cocked his head to glance smugly at Ruby Moon, "I AM being carefull."

Ruby Moon sweat dropped, "You really haven't changed, have you?" she shook her head, "But still, we don't want to provoke them too much."

"I agree," said Spinel, "I'm not quite sure of their capabilities. Someone's blocking off their aura."

"Well, anyway..." Ruby Moon grinned, "... they don't look too powerful to me so what would it be?"

Spinel sweat dropped, "Oh, what great caution teller you are, Ruby Moon."

"That was BEFORE I took a good glimpse at them!" she argued then saw the black-winged beings halt. "It's now or never!"

And without a word more, Yue flew in front ofhis companions then poised his hands to aim a shot of his arrow towards the winged female...

"Be careful, Yue." warned Spinel, eyeing the beings suspiciously as they spun around. "Remember what they did to--"

The arrow was released at the same time that the beings fully faced them.

Distress could be seen in the face of the tiger, while his cohort simply followed the movement of the arrow aiming exactly for her chest. It was only half a foot awaywhen she immediately moved to catch it with her right hand, just in time before it even punctured a hole in her chest...

"--Cerberus..." continued Spinel, at a grim loss for words. His eyes weredoubling the size of saucers especiallywhen he saw the female disintegrate Yue's arrow...

And to say that Yue, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun were shocked would be the gross understatement of the year, judging from the way they were looking at them, like they grew another head or something scarier than confronting a hungry vampire in broad daylight.

The female smiled crookedly at Yue.

And Spinel, being the only one who recovered somewhat from what he saw flew forward to try his shot. The white tiger moved to confront him. He didn't know the limits of his capabilities but he thought that it couldn't be half as bad, could it?

All that he knew was the tiger, apparently, had a lot to answer for after what he did to Cerberus, Daidouji-san, and Sakura-san. And without a single doubt — his eyes strayed to the female for a while — SHE had a lot to answer for almost killing the Li clan's head but had already made it a point to show inkling of how her powers worked when she caught and disintegrated Yue's arrow within a blink. How she did it, he'd never know; but as far as powers were observed — being exposed to it and all with Eriol — he knew one thing was for certain...

They're more than what they wanted them to think.

Settling for a firmer stance in midair, Spinel Sun established eye contact with the tiger and opened his mouth to release a radiance of ruby-colored light. He really didn't know the extent of his powers and so, he was taking this chance. And if he only saw those four horrified expressions coming from Cerberus, Daidouji-san, the cute descendant — as Eriol aptly called him — and Sakura-san, he may have had inkling of what he was up against.

Beams were released.

It was already too late for any action; and Spinel was overcome by his opponent's energy wave almost instantly, sending him riveting down the ground with a dangerous sounding thump.

A worried chorus of "Suppi!" and "Spinel!" was heard from below.

"Spinel!" Came Eriol's worried voice. He didn't bother asking if he was alright, since it would seem to be pretty obvious, judging by the size of the burn on the larger form of the plush toy's body.

"I'm okay..." he struggled to get up but failed. "I wasn't expecting something as powerful as that..." he turned to look up at the tiger. "I was careless..."

* * *

Ruby Moon couldn't decide whether she wanted to gape or let Yue yank her until she couldn't see straight. She was actually, positively, at the state of shock to even do something... anything. Yue's arrow was caught and disintegrated, without as much of a stir; then the other Larger Plushie overpowered Spinel Sun.

And the thought of actually considering them to be little less than harmful — she booted, there was a fine line between harmless, harmful and extremely harmful and Ruby Moon, considered them, at a glance, a little less than harmful which was stupid at all points, considering they CAN burn them to a crisp within a finger's snap or God knows how quick it can go — proved some fatally scary fact she wouldn't even dare cross. It was a little bit overboard for them to consider something fairly different but it HAD to be deliberate. Whoever their creator was — Clow or not so Clow — has a lot to answer for if they ask her.

Heavy silence hung above them.

Until, finally, one made a motion to speak.

"You should know how strong your opponents are before doing something deliberately..." The winged female's words faded, looking as if she was considering something — where in fact, she was since she was thinking of another word to put on so as not to piss off the group front and below from any offensive word that she may or may not throw at them. After all, they're unlike her tiger cohort who would easily bounce back a retort with a single glare; she bet they'd be more than glad to throw sharp objects at her until she became a multifunctional pincushion. "…Reckless..." That was the best she could think of.

And as if pulling her voice out from somewhere in the abyss of her diaphragm, Ruby Moon uttered her words clearly, throwing in icy glares all the way. "Don't worry..." She said with a dangerous pique, "We're already aware of it..."

She threw her a fond look that suggested something like 'Wuby Moon is a good widdle gurl'.

Yue and Ruby Moon skewered her in a glance. She was deliberately annoying them.

"It's nice to finally meet the four of you..." Grinned the tiger, earning a strange look from Yue and Ruby Moon this time, "We've heard a lot of things about you guys..." he said, more or less amiably, confusing the heck out of the two guardians who were half-gaping at him — well, at least, Ruby Moon ALMOST was; Yue just raised one perfectly curved eyebrow.

"From...?" Asked Yue, curiously, if that was some word to use. He was basically looking bored upon inquiry.

The black-winged duos miled fondly at him. "From Clow Reed." They chorused, somewhat nonchalantly as if the person whom they were talking to was just a favored storekeeper, living on the other side of the district.

And if they expected them to be shocked, they were disappointed.

Their looks bordered more on confusion and incomprehension rather than the anticipated shock of the year as they had imagined in their minds.

"What do you mean, from Clow Reed?" Yue narrowed his gaze at them — as if his intimidating looks weren't enough to shoo away an army of zombies.

It was female who considered the thought for a while. "Hmm..." she said, pursing her lips. "I don't think it's our call to answer that..."

"Oh?" Ruby Moon arched an eyebrow.

"But don't worry," said the tiger once more, flapping his wings in a way that warned them they were about to do something. "This won't be the last time we see each other..." They turned.

"Until next time..." and with those final words from the winged female, they flew off.

Ruby Moon and Yue considered following them but found it impossible since they suddenly disappeared in thin air within the span of a blink. They were left to stare at the place where they 'poofed' away then looked at each other, stared at the place again then glanced at each other once more...

"I don't know about you..." Ruby Moon said, still occupied with the thoughts in her head. "But I think they just told us they're going to cause more trouble."

Yue huffed at her, looking immensely bored. "Is that a fact..."

* * *

"I'm mighty impressed..." The winged female said, hovering to and fro in midair as she observed the ground's sudden outburst of cheerful music and voices and things, ten minutes after their encounter had occurred. "Even though I knew we had the upper hand, the Li boy certainly had his share of the beating if it wasn't for — er — several distractions..."

From a few yards away, Nakuru was busily glomping Yukito and Li. Then engaging Sakura and Tomoyo in a bone-crushing hug.

"And Ruby Moon and Yue weren't half as bad either..." she smiled brilliantly.

"Cerberus and Spinel Sun too..."the tiger nodded approvingly, "Even though I certainly gave them quite a start..." He grinned. His master patted him, gently, on the head.

"Giving them quite a start is good, Cyrus..." said the hooded man, "It's exactly what I was hoping for..."

"You knew this was coming?" blinked the throw rug.

"Of course he knew, you klutz..."The femme stated, obviously trying to irritate the tiger, named Cyrus, to the tips of his white tail. "Why make us this way if he didn't?"

"HEY!" It worked, obviously, "I'm not the one who almost ate dust a couple of minutes ago!"

"Well, I didn't get much of a chance to display my magical capabilities now, did I?" she smirked at the overly annoyed tiger; veins were visibly swelling out of his head and — if possible — through his helm. "At least I didn't have to flaunt it much to make them realize the fact."

"Grr...Ifyou'vebeensomodestthen," He paused for breath and momentum, "WHYDIDYOUCATCHTHEARROWWITHYOURBARE _HANDS_?" growled Cyrus. "And you really had to disintegrate it..." he huffed. "Some modesty you have there..."

"Really now, you big chunk of fur ball..." she retorted, dryly. "Do you expect me to wiggle around and dodge the arrow when I can just as well stop the entire hullabaloo by catching it?" She narrowed a comical gaze at her companion. "...And can you please do something to stop your drool from coming out of its proper place? It's disgusting..."

Cyrus turned crimson. "IT'S NOT!"

"Sure, fine..." she waved her hand dismissively, holding all the intentions of pissing her companion more than he already was at the moment. "Whatever..."

Cyrus was ready to bite another comment, but his master had enough grace in him to stop their continuous bicker-blabber. "Okay... that's about enough."

They ignored him.

"Why don't we give it a rest and call it a day?" he added, mildly, with amusement tainting his voice.

They ignored him some more.

The reason why he kept some grace in him to stop their pointless argument was mainly because they would probably end up biting each other's head like the previous bickering sessions they've had in the past — if he was lucky, that is. And if he was not, he had to eventually stop one of them from blasting off in fury, kicking boulders or rubble on the way — if he was lucky again, and if not, well, to put it mildly, the worse so far was the one that occurred in the Grand Canyon.

Cyrus was definitely ready to deform the magnificent centuries' deal of artwork, courtesy of Mother Nature, when she "accidentally" pricked his behind with her katana to give him a slight push off the cliff. She claimed she was just worried about Cyrus' flying ability, considering the fact that he hibernated for a VERY long time, starting off from Clow's death until just about a few years back. She was showing pretty much all of her sharp teeth, all the way in an attempt to wash her hands clean in the light of feigned purity in thoughts and innocence.

"Stop it you two." He spoke again in all due lightness, though strong and firm with finality.

His guardians made a low-sounding huff but did as they were told.

* * *

Kero-chan was making a ruckus in the living room — a loud, growling ruckus in the living room as Yukito tried to lessen the pain of his burns. "PLEASE be gentler..."

Yukito smiled cheerfully. "I'll try my best." He picked up a cleaning agent and applied it on the guardian beast's wounds.

"Ou-Ou-Ou-Oucccchhhhh! YEEEOOOOOUUUCCCCHHHHH!" yelped the plush toy, gritting his teeth and stomping his paw in the process to force the pain away. "Yukito-san..." he breathed heavily in an attempt to calm himself from the pain. "Why, in heavens, do you call these things—" he winced, willing his self to stop yelping hysterically. "—GENTLE?"

_If he weren't so cocky, _spoke Yukito's other self in his head,_ he never would've ended up like that in the first place._

_I don't think anyone expected them to be that powerful, Yue-san, _said Yukito, defending the groaning plush toy. _Besides, _we_ also could've been in his place if she hadn't been so modest about her magical capabilities. _Yukito was obviously referring to the female who had caught the arrow effortlessly, as narrated by a very hysterical plushie patient.

_It's different, _snorted the moon guardian. _He's still recklessly cocky and overconfident._

And Yukito thought, not for the first time, it's a pity he could never skewer his other self no matter how much he yearned doing it for the past years.

Kero-chan let out another yelp of pain, earning a distasteful look, this time, from Spinel Sun who was at the moment, being treated by Tomoyo in his best of behavior. "There..." said the iolite-eyed lady; tying the last loose bandage on the black plush-toy's miniature body. "Are you feeling better now, Spinel-san?"

"Hai..." answered Spinel, "I would be able to regenerate with the help of the sun. But I can't stop wondering..." he paused at a running thought. "If he was able to inflict this kind of damage then I can say his powers maybe more than what he cares to show..." he tried to move his bandaged limbs then looked up at Tomoyo. "Anyway, thank you for lessening the pain, Daidouji-san."

"No problem..." Tomoyo smiled, fighting the urge to grab and cuddle him as she had often seen Akizuki-san do — well, gentler to some extent, at least, since along with the brisk cuddling of the moon guardian, she had also witnessed how Spinel's color dangerously paled. "Although I'm a bit curious... why didn't you let Akizuki-san tend your wounds?"

Spinel made a motion to speak but was rudely interrupted by the irritating high-pitched trilling of someone at the doorway; connecting the kitchen and the living room.

"—We brought some caaaaakeeessss and teeeeeeeeeeaa for everyboooddddyyyyyy!" Nakuru happily bounced in the room; well, actually, she was hanging on Touya's back as the poor man carried a tray of cakes. Fujitaka carried tea and Eriol carried some excess plates that wouldn't fit on either Fujitaka or Touya's tray, along with Spinel Sun's food.

Sakura and Nadeshiko followed them closely for assistance — well, Nadeshiko floated closely and Sakura apt for assistance.

_Another idiot bounded in..._ Yue sounded bored. Yukito yearned to hit him with a mallet.

"And Fujitaka-sensei and Eriol made something special for Sup-PI-chaaan toooooooo!" she trilled once more, earning a Look from Touya that bordered between annoyance and hopelessness.

Spinel's eyes narrowed at his co-guardian then turned a straight-faced 'you-see' look at Tomoyo. "Would you _trust _someone like her with _your _wounds?"

Tomoyo sweat dropped. She thought it best to leave it as that.

"You're just being mean, Suppi-chan!" Nakuru jumped away from Touya, — much to his relief — stuck out her tongue, then rested her hands on her hips. "The last time YOU had an accident back in England, _I_ was the one who fixed YOUR wound!"

"And I wonder whose fault that was." Spinel snorted, then glared accusingly at Nakuru. "And thanks to YOU, I was OUT for a WEEK!" he bellowed. "And if it weren't for Eriol, I would've been DELIRIOUS for a month longer!"

Everyone stared. Then turned to Eriol who was putting up a ridiculously cheerful smile on his face, utterly too obnoxious for Li and Touya's liking, "He was electrocuted so I had to draw out the remaining electricity charges in his body to stop any internal damage."

Everyone winced, save for Eriol, Spinel and Nakuru.

"Why was he electrocuted?" Asked Tomoyo suspiciously; wary of the looks that Eriol and Nakuru had been putting up.

The cheerful smile on Eriol's face rivaled the cosmetic smile of a clown.

Tomoyo was even more suspicious; she turned towards Spinel.

"Nakuru fed me a whole packet of those chocolate-coated nuts," he began, throwing a very accusing glare at Nakuru-kun as if he was currently experiencing everything in rewind. "I was drunk and somehow landed on the chandelier, and God knows what happened back then."

She tried to wash her hands clean by looking innocent. "He probably thought the electrical wirings were colorful sugar sticks so he bit into them," Nakuru offered.

"And YOU'RE accusing ME of being MEAN?" snapped Spinel.

Nakuru grinned, whence Tomoyo noticed she had been showing a lot of her sharp white teeth in the process.

Everyone could only stare.

* * *

Spinel took note, after swallowing one of his cookies, of the changes in everyone in the living room. It was expected, of course, but one of them eventually stood out and earned the plush toy's undivided attention. Why wouldn't he? For one, her aura had been screaming a few unlikely things to those who knew exactly how to read it properly. And other than that, while he was having a little chat with her, Spinel could feel the coldness of dull silver and blue emanating from her, mingling intensely with the chilly winter air of Japan that somehow reminded Spinel of England's weather just before they left: lacking life, warmth and cheer.

Well, it is after all, winter in the northern hemisphere.

And the Winter Season, he concluded, suits Daidouji-san pretty well.

He turned his observing eyes around the room then bit into his cookie, a little less enthusiastic about it this time.

Has it been thirteen years already?

The calm steady look on Daidouji-san's face was still there. Along with the same ready smile that looked almost too knowing for her age. And if Spinel didn't know any better, he would most probably think nothing much had come upon her, other than her physical features that had already matured. Believe him or not, Spinel thought those thirteen years did her incredible justice, physically. And as Nakuru commented earlier, along with a fatal bone-crushing hug, Daidouji-chan changed a LOT and is VERY PRETTY and she bet she has suitors and boyfriends and would let Nakuru meet aaaallll of them. He fought the urge to snort — more on the thought of remembering Nakuru's ways of unconsciously squeezing the life out of people by blocking their circulation and seizing oxygen from their physiological pathways —, hoping all the while, he wasn't making any weird faces.

Spinel just BET Daidouji-san had a boyfriend... lots of them. Because basically, boyfriend to Daidouji-san meant a boy, and a friend fused into one logical bind that settled on nothing more but mere friendship: A guy friend... a _male_ friend.

And that was JUST that.

"We felt Clow Reed's presence..." Announced the Li as he took alternating Looks between Hiiragizawa, and Cerberus who was, at the moment, trying to score on his plate for more servings of cake. "Mind sharing a few deductions, Hiiragizawa?"

Eriol heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm not sure if it's intuition or not," He smiled up at Sakura and saw Li-kun puncture his cake — where Cerberus' little dirty hand was getting at — to keep the plush toy away. "But originally, I plan on staying here for vacation. It just so happens that this came up and so..." he paused. Spinel noticed Eriol taking a casual sideway glance at Daidouji-san. He filed the information away for his talk with Eriol later. "I followed the presence and arrived at the same time with Yue-san."

Yukito blinked. "But if it's Clow Reed, then..." he blinked again, throwing an inquiring look at Fujitaka-sensei and Eriol.

Touya filled in that part for him. "Wasn't Clow Reed reincarnated into two people? One being him—" He threw an annoyed look at Eriol. And received a smile. "—And the other would be..." His words faded.

Everyone stared at Fujitaka-sensei, expectantly. A big bead of sweat trailed down his head; sure he was being sentenced to death or something close.

"I-Is there..." he choked, "something wrong?"

_I think they're asking if you happen to know anything, _Nadeshiko explained happily.

Fujitaka looked at her, confusedly. "Not that I'm aware of... really." He cleared his throat and recovered from his momentary shock. "Hiiragizawa-kun mentioned something about Clow Reed leaving his memories to him..." He brightened up, "I guess I'm pretty clueless to everything that has been happening."

Nadeshiko giggled. Fujitaka gave her a questioning, blank look. _Nothing... _she answered.

Silence followed as everyone considered his statement.

True enough, Spinel thought, no matter how creepily similar Eriol and Fujitaka-sensei could be in a sense, he isn't the type of a person who _would _engage in some magical hullabaloo, thus, gaining the less puckish side of Clow and all. So, Spinel guessed Clow Reed must have willed Fujitaka-sensei to lead an ordinary life — minus the magical abilities part — to take better care of his family; of Sakura-san and Touya-kun; and even Nadeshiko-san when she was still alive.

And as for the one who caught Clow's puckish side... well — he turned a Look at Eriol — everybody's yet to find out...

"But perhaps..." Fujitaka-sensei spoke once more, picking up the teapot for refills. "Perhaps, Clow Reed left something for Hiiragizawa-kun to figure out..."

Eriol suddenly looked burdened. "He certainly did a good job keeping it away." He tried not to grumble.

Fujitaka-sensei nodded, understandingly, then sipped on his tea.

_Whatever it is,_ said Nadeshiko, smiling cheerfully as ever at Eriol._ I'm sure Clow Reed wouldn't mean to hurt himself more than he wouldn't mean hurting either Sakura-chan or Tomoyo-chan... _

Sakura was wearing a far-off look in her eyes for a brief while then snapped back, putting on a small smile. "Okaa-san's right..." she said, "We just have to be extra careful in dealing with them next time..." she paused then smiled at Eriol. "But I'm sure... somehow... everything will be okay in the end... you don't have to worry."

"I'm sure it would, Sakura-chan…" Tomoyo injected with that pretty masked smile of hers; which Spinel felt the need to scrape and shred to pieces with his claws then claim, afterwards, that he just wanted to see — out of idle curiosity — if something was beneath it. And pray that his innocent looks would be enough for everyone to absolve him. Really. It was not actually like Spinel at all to have such invading thoughts but considering the circumstances she had been dipping herself into for God-knows-how-long, he couldn't help but feel a little sad for Daidouji-san. Such a lovely and kind person shouldn't be allowed to suffer for her entire lifetime.

He saw Sakura-san agree with a cheerful nod.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Nakuru-kun suddenly spoke. "Maybe for Sakura-chan..." Nakuru nodded, emanating an air of confidence and cheer. "But IIII'm not entirely sure for _EVERYone_..." Her voice implied skepticism — cheerful skepticism — that pinpointed to a magnetic pole, somewhere in the living room, like a compass.

And Spinel wondered where, exactly, North was. Maybe HE should have another talk with Nakuru-kun later with Eriol.

Everyone stared at her.

"What do you mean, Akizuki-san?" asked Yukito, blinking rapidly. It seems, he can't fathom the unusualness of a person like Nakuru-kun, who seem to only think about having fun and causing trouble to, basically, anyone who comes within fifty feet of her perimeter, saying something as serious as that.

"Oh..." Nakuru grinned. "Nothing much, really." She took her fork then stuffed a piece of cake in her mouth.

Spinel wondered what Nakuru was implying when she said that. It was a rare moment, actually, but not so rare as to see Nakuru so set in doing things the way a normal person would — though she was far from being dubbed "normal" as far as the word "normal" could be defined. He was still wondering when he took a cookie and aimed for his mouth. Then, upon switching on a position that somehow made him notice Nakuru-kun stealing a quick glance at Daidouji-san, the cookie, which he originally aimed for his mouth, was shoved under or perhaps, on his nose instead...

"Ne..." uttered Nakuru, happily; unaware of the fact that Spinel Sun was half-gaping at her. "I wanna go to the amusement park!" she announced, returning to her normal chirpy self once more. "And I waaaaaanna go with Tsukishiro-kun and Touya-kun!"

Everyone could only manage to stare, unsure of what to think. While Spinel Sun continued to ponder a single thought in his cute little head...

If Nakuru-kun noticed, then Daidouji-san must be _worse_ than he had anticipated...

And with that considered, he finally managed to shove the cookie down his throat, not on his nose...

* * *

Tsuzuku...

I want to read opinions and deductions about this fiction. Please review!

a.) Sorry for the long wait... Eheh... I have to read and re-read the story and see if the plot matches. I did, roughly, four to five drafts of this story already and constantly changing the way it was written. I'm not putting it up until I'm sure it's okay so... cough... slower in updating than usual. XD

b.) Iolite is a beautiful blue-violet gemstone. I couldn't quite decide whether I should settle for amethyst, lilac, violet or blue violet... and then I happen to come across birthstones in the net and stumbled upon this beauty here... (Whistles)... The color's just perfect. It matches Tomoyo-chan's eyes. Oh and for your info, Sapphire is the official birthstone of those born on September... and guess what? Tomoyo Daidouji's birthday is on September third (well... what do you know...) XD

c.) I know some — or most — of the characters are probably out of character but I'm having trouble keeping them "in character" because... XO ... these are people in their twenties already. It's hard to plop them on their twenties, then give them an attitude back when they were still in elementary... it's kinda complicated but I'm thinking under the light of someone growing at THAT particular age and I just thought it would be sort of... interesting — if not funny — to see when things switch... like Sakura would take care of Tomoyo in a way, rather than the other way around... BUT... XO... I managed to keep some of their elementary details in tact. Videotaping gigs... Li's blushing habit... Hiiragizawa's irritating demeanor... and a few twists later on... eheh... Plus, I found it irresistible to patch up Sakura-chan's kawaii naivety and occasional clueless state but really... for someone gifted with the power of foresight — and manipulation of goodness knows how strong those cards were — it's kinda hard to stay naïve and (especially) clueless to everything that happens around you. (Take/Note: She CAN see the future WHEN she wants to.) XD

d.) I know that the guardians aren't _that_ susceptible to wounds and I can recall Kero-chan saying something about regenerating his energy from the sun but... I took the liberties anyway. C3 I explained in the story that Cyrus' powers are yards ahead and his creator thought about everything else... after all... he is — or was — Clow Reed! Kakakakakaka! C3 eheh...

e.) And lastly (and when I say "first of all", that means, first and LAST of all coz u guys are so special, especially my precious beta reader) Thanks to my beta reader, VampirePeaches! I love you so much I could just hug you! And to those who reviewed, my love goes to you too! XD You rock guys! XD ehehehe...

And Now... a special feature from the crazy, crazy author of this fiction...

(Drum rolls)...  
**LAU-KUN'S CORNER...!  
**(Thunderous applause)

Spinel: NAKURU knows MORE than she cares to show?  
Me: Ask CLAMP... (Still typing) and besides... if it's not the truth, it's CLOSE... from my point of view at least.  
Spinel: (Mumbles something incoherently)  
Me: (Ball my eyes around) Aw come on, little guy! Just agree... (Continues typing)  
Spinel: (blinks) I wasn't objecting..  
Me: (Pouts) You were thinking it  
Spinel: (Perches on my head) Nakuru may get on my nerves most of the time but she does have strong points...least of the time.  
Me: er ...  
Spinel & Me: (Hears several shrills in the background)  
Touya: Get away you--!  
Yukito: A-Akizuki-san--!  
Nakuru: TO-YA-KUUUUUN! Tsu-KI-shi-RRROOOOOOO-KUUUUUUUUUN! (More crashing sounds in the background)  
Me & Spinel: (Sweat drops)  
Me: Eheh... I guess.. that's not one of her strong points... is it?  
Spinel: (Deadpan) You really have to ask...

**End!**


	3. Winter Season Part Two v1

**SEASON OF WINTER  
**Part Two v1  
**By: Lau-kun**

**Disclaimer: **A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Yeah... that's putting it mildly... XD)

Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones. VampirePeaches! Vampy! You're a precious, precious gem!

As for the OC's, I beg your pardon for creating them but they're needed for keeps and certain twists. Don't worry. They wouldn't kill anyone. They're not as despicable as they seem. Ahahaha... I think that's some giveaway. XD XD XD

* * *

Winter

Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.

* * *

It's funny how one simple event can turn somebody's life upside down.

For an instance, Daidouji Tomoyo was just your average woman — okay, maybe not so average woman since it's not everyday that you encounter the sole heiress of a wealthy business tycoon, trying to get some quality time with her not-so-average best friends — technically an understatement since one wouldn't just walk around the block and by some luck, make friends with two people who could wield actual magic; along with a walking, flying, talking, sugar-addicted plush toy who transforms into a bigger, life-size fire breathing Armored Plushie Version™ — when two black-winged beings suddenly appeared to wallop them. Not that it actually worked but the two plush toys certainly had their share. Physically.

And, not to mention, she had her own fair share of it too...

Emotionally.

Feelings must be powerful things if one of them could twist life into a big yarn of messy, complicated knots.

Tomoyo was diligently reading a business proposal — well, at least she was diligently staring at it for the past three hours, when she realized she wasn't making any progress at all. Yes, it took her three hours to realize that. And that thought. _Wasn't_. Helping.

Ever since the winter festival incident occurred about a week ago, she couldn't stop thinking whether it was her fears that drove her to think of such... thoughts. She didn't know how to describe it so she settled for simplicity. And within that week, she realized she had also been distracted from work. She couldn't finish the same load as before and right now — she glared at the innocent black-leathered folder on her hands — NOW, she couldn't even finish the STUPID, LOUSY business proposal...

It frustrated her to know that if only her concentration didn't leave her for Timbuktu or Haiti, her work should almost be completed by now.

She groaned, and then carelessly dumped the folder on her working table. Well, THAT didn't improve her mood. She tried giving her aching temple a rub and somehow felt it loosen a trifle — if ever you considered loosening the tightness of a garrote around your neck by perhaps a millimeter after one full twist, it was close to that. Not exactly the best example, but still close.

She frowned.

It felt awfully like she was being hit by Chiharu-chan's infamous mallet, straight on. And thinking about it rocketed her respect for Yamazaki-kun's tolerance sky-high.

She frowned harder.

Who was she kidding?

Tomoyo buried her head on her hands then closed her eyes. And instantly, without meaning to do so, images from last week's event came to her like she was experiencing everything in rewind.

Light... screaming... sword bouts... and Sakura-chan...

She smiled. Her headache faded abruptly.

She almost died because of her love for Sakura-chan. She _hurled_ herself in death's path just so she could protect the one she loves best but still, she managed to live. She was barely a hand's reach from death when someone took hold of her and pulled her back to safety... someone _actually _had enough grace in him to save her.

But THAT. Wasn't. IT.

Emptiness. Concealing.

Why was she concealing emptiness at the time of her death — she amended, near-death — when she _knew _it was all for Sakura-chan?

She should be feeling complete. And even if she had died in that instant, at least, the thought stands that she did it for her loved one's sake. After all, Sakura-chan's happiness is _her_ happiness.

...Right?

Flustered, Tomoyo balled her eyes then frowned. _Hard_. Harder than the previous frowns she managed to twist on her face. The throbbing pain in her temple was back and it was _deliberately _pissing her off. She thought, if only the throbbing pain she was currently feeling had a neck, she would've strangled the living daylights out of it by now.

Well, of course it is! She whined, inwardly. Sakura-chan IS her number one and nothing can change that. And no, she admitted, bordering on bitterness and gladness, Sakura-chan wouldn't be happy at all if something bad happens to her, but at least she can get over it with Li-kun's help.

Then she realized she was desperately bent on justifying her thoughts.

She made a face, stifling an amused little chuckle as a sudden thought rammed in. If they were already panicking at the thought of her losing her life, figuratively, at work, what more if she loses her life, literally, in the hands of those Yue-san and Kero-chan Look-a-Like creatures?

For one, her mother would surely give them bloody hell and pull a Rambo without even a _care_ if they were powerful magical beings (that gave her a funny image of her cat-eyed mother in a full-gear military camouflage suit, firing a pair of machine guns in her hands); and, on the other hand, Sakura-chan would probably do something drastic with her magic to bring her back or something; even if Hiiragizawa-kun told her that they could never bring someone who died back to life again. And, after knocking some sense in her head, she would then resort to do something that involved the four major elements of the cards, together with Light and Dark, and then most probably call out Yue-san and Kero-chan — in his true form —, then enjoy torturing the suspects until they looked like something even oxygen wouldn't come within a radius of a hundred meters.

It was beginning to give her unsettling pictures of Sakura, forking out their crossed-eyed enemies with her staff-gone-trident, cackling out an evil Ka. Ka. Ka. I'm Roasting You To Death Because Of — add appropriate reasons to your heart's content — And I'll Never Forgive You. She immediately pushed THAT aside. It was totally un-Sakura-chan with prolonged morbidity — okay, _too_ much morbidity. But Li, however, would gladly fill in that part for her best friend.

And along with the cringing - she wasn't even aware she was already _making_ weird faces. Good thing she was alone at that time.

Tomoyo closed her eyes once more and again, saw the same blinding white light, enshrouding the entire place as if it only occurred a minute ago. Kero-chan and Sakura-chan were shouting her name in inexplicable horror; Li-kun was battling with the black-winged Yue-san counterpart; while she, Tomoyo, succumbed to the inner voice that bid her to do something immediately...

And then her subconscious senses brought back everything she felt at the moment. _Everything_. Including the undeniably masculine scent of rich musk that invaded her nostrils when she thought her life would come to an end already...

Her brain screeched to a stop.

He was warm and strong. His arms surrounded her, tightly... protectively.

She blinked and burrowed her brows.

She remembered the uncanny similarity whenever she was holding Sakura-chan in her arms or vice versa; and the oddness of its calmness and comfort that suddenly filled her with peace — protection. And somehow, she also found it odd to know she could find it elsewhere. More so, in the presence of danger...

Her mind drew blank.

More so, in the arms of _another_...

Her jaw had somehow fallen down an inch, and quite unaware of it too.

His voice echoed through her brain; bespectacled pair of sapphires were worriedly staring upon her own pair of amethysts. And once again, she wondered when her arms had slid around his waist for support...

_Eriol-kun! _Came Sakura-chan's voice.

"Eriol-kun..." she repeated, unconsciously.

She contemplated for a good five seconds. Stopped. Then groaned; ready to beat her head with the stapler or the hole-puncher... or both... or perhaps the hardbound two inches thick English dictionary on her office shelf... or —

She groaned some more.

What was WRONG with her?

Tomoyo searched for more solid things to beat her head with, then settled for the table; and was about to seriously bang her head on it — _hard _—, when somebody opened the door in time to spare her from possible brain damage and severe internal hemorrhage. "You look like you could use a cup of these..." a woman's calm voice hung in the air. "That _must _be one heck of a headache, Tomoyo-sama."

Tomoyo sighed, counting a hundred-and-one, before looking up to face a pair of soft and gravely concerned green-gray eyes. "How do you know?"

"Let's just say that you look exactly like someone who's been hit by a boulder, fell off a cliff and got backed by a truckload of gravels and hot asphalts..." she sounded like it was something similar to I Took A Bath This Morning, Hopped In My Clothes And Went To Work. "Then, you somehow managed to crawl out of the nasty hole to get straight back to work without breaking your most _revered_ punctuality record..." Louise Westmore grimaced then rolled the pushover cart near her boss' table. Two years of working as Daidouji Tomoyo's secretary made her aware of every unimaginable personality contours of her boss at work... well, maybe not as much as Sakura but she was close to that; considering, she was always with her during business hours, which were roughly eight (if she was lucky) or more hours a day (if she was not), not counting the business trips outside the country.

"I _resented_ it immediately when it graced my eyes for the first time," she said, quite audaciously, casually glancing at the proposition folder on her boss' desk. "And since _that_ paper had been messing you for hours already, I've come to a conclusion that it's either _that_ proposition is three-hundred pages of nonsense drabble," which clearly wasn't, thought Tomoyo, since it was only _forty_ to _fifty_ pages long of _bad_ drabble. "Or something's bothering you." Louise smiled, awfully resembling someone who had been force-fed with vinegar. "Choose."

Grandiloquent preference for words was her secretary's forte. It was her best means of fishing out information, even from a thick, solid pond of ice, AKA her boss.

"Low blow." Tomoyo chuckled, giving her aching forehead a massage. "Nothing really. Maybe it's one of those days... I can't really concentrate."

"Right..." Louise's drawl suggested she'd rather believe tales of a meowing wolf and a purring lion. She poured tea in Tomoyo's teacup. "And so was yesterday... the other day... and the other, _other_ day... and the other, other, _other _day and —"

Tomoyo cut her by laughing lightly. "Sum it up to one week already."

"Hmm... Perhaps, yes..." she nodded, considering the thought. "If you wouldn't consider the days when I was still living in the arms of my motherland in New Zealand and YOU'RE still attending college at — where was that again? — Oh yes... Tokyo University..." the secretary plastered a smug look, carefully placing the teacup on Tomoyo's table. "I may be a foreigner and I may not have a lot to say when it comes to this country's working customs but I know 'stressed-out' when I see it. It's the one thing both countries have in common — _all_ countries in fact." she turned abruptly towards the door and smiled, kindly. "And Sakura-san's not taking it as an excuse. She's coming by the way."

On cue, the door shot open, revealing a beaming Sakura-chan and a yellow plush toy peeking out of her coat jacket, oh-so-casually. "Good afternoon, Tomoyo-chan!" She greeted then turned a 1000-watt smile towards Tomoyo's secretary. "Good afternoon, Louise-chan!"

The timing was so perfect, it made Tomoyo's head shoot up towards her in confusion; scrutinizing the normal-look on her secretary's face for any kinds of explanations because, if ever Louise had ESP, she wasn't really giving her inkling about it.

"Good afternoon!" Louise greeted, pouring tea for Sakura. "Nice day, Sakura-san?"

Sakura nodded and cheerfully flumped on the chair. "We're going to the amusement park today!"

"Ah... that's thrilling..." answered Louise, aware of the confused and wondering looks her boss had been giving. "I talked with Sakura-san before I entered the room. Daidouji-sama pulled her for a chat outside, that's why she didn't come in right after me." Louise widened her smile as she saw Tomoyo ease up.

"Oh..." was all Tomoyo could say. She heaved a heavy, exhausted sigh then frowned — or pouted... or both. It morphed into a full frown anyway, then she fought the urge to groan.

This was NOT a good day.

The door opened once more and a black-blue headed lady poked her head on the door before fully entering with a grin. "Good afternoon!" she bowed; her cheerfulness not lessening the intense glint in her green-gray eyes.

And upon realizing _that_ particular note, Tomoyo wondered for a brief second — as did Sakura, judging from the way she was blinking like she was sending off encrypted messages using Morse code via her eyes — and then went back to her normal state. Tomoyo saved the bit of information for scrutiny later.

"Good afternoon, Akiyo-chan!" greeted a cheerful Sakura, beaming the same watt, or higher, of her smile.

Shinokawa Akiyo brightly nodded, then placed a folder carefully on Tomoyo's desk. "I've brought a message from Daidouji-sama." her smile was enough to light up a giant Christmas tree. "She told me to let you sign these papers and then you're off with Sakura-san in the amusement park today."

Tomoyo nodded. Stopped. And then blinked...

It took a while to process the words completely but when it did, she immediately riveted her attention towards the ladies in her office.

She was met by three, suspicious-looking smiles.

She counted and assessed the looks on their faces: one was Sakura, two was Louise, and three was Akiyo. All of them bore the same identical innocent smiles — supposedly at least, since Tomoyo thought they were flaunting a lot of their fangs in the process, like a snarling saber tooth after finding prey. "Are you—" she stared at Sakura; looking utterly betrayed, "—ganging up on me?" she managed to blink.

The contriving trio merely smiled some more.

* * *

"I can't believe you forgot that I was in your pocket, Sakuraaaa..." Kero sniffled, nursing his bumped and aching head. "You can really be mean, sometimes"

No one can blame him for this one. It was really Sakura's fault since, out of pure ecstasy, she gleefully launched herself forward, accidentally banging the poor plush toy's head — forgetting that he was in fact, inside her coat-pocket — on the table one time or five...or more. She couldn't really tell considering she was so overwhelmed by happiness, she didn't even realize what she was doing.

Needless to say, she only stopped when she heard a small whimper — a small, _pained_ whimper.

"I'm really sorry, Kero-chan." apologized his mistress. "I was just happy because Tomoyo-chan agreed without putting up much of a fight." Sakura pursed her lips in thought, "Akiyo-chan and Louise-chan were also surprised since we were extremely sure it would take an army to convince her."

"Really, Sakura-chan..." Tomoyo pouted cutely. "That's not true..."

"Sakura-chaaaaaaan! Tomoyo-chaaaaan! Liiii-kuuuun!" trilled a high-pitched voice of somebody from somewhere. It didn't take long for them to realize where it was coming from, or who it was, since Li-kun made it a point of skewering her companion in a glance, all together with dozens and dozens of Chinese words under his breath — Tomoyo guessed correctly, it was a bunch of curses — that earned him a certain Look; bidding him bad things later from _sweet_ and _nice_ Sakura-chan...

Eriol, somehow, managed a fairly normal smile despite of his descendant's murderous stares, whilst Nakuru was beaming happily — maniacally; then somehow managed to engage the girls in a bone-crushing hug, wring Li-kun's hand and stretch Kero-chan's face in record time of five seconds, "Keeerroooo-chaaaaan!" she trilled, a few decibels up. "It's good to see you!"

Kero looked _completely_ and _utterly_ ready to bite her finger off.

"Please forgive her." Spinel poked his head out of his master's pocket, looking exactly like someone who had been dragged, while managing to stay gloomily unruffled, from somewhere without asking proper permission. "She may have aged but her mentality refuses to abide by it."

Kero, Sakura, Li and Tomoyo sweat dropped, not doubting a letter in Spinel's words. Nakuru chose to ignore his comment.

"I hope we're not a bother..." said Eriol, implying most of it to a very busy company heiress.

Sakura beamed a happy smile, Li burned a hole on his face, Kero grumbled some more about the aching parts of his whimsical body (considering Nakuru's fatal fondness for him, his cheeks were now hurting too) and Tomoyo smiled at him, quite politely. "Not really." she answered, "Okaa-san finished most of work this week so I have time to spare."

"That's good to hear then..." Eriol smiled. Li-kun threw him pointy daggers-in-a-glare since it awfully reminded him of elevators, a deranged piano and other things that somehow managed to crawl out of the cob-web infested hole he had excavated to dump a truckload of memories that really reminded him of how evil Hiiragizawa was — or still is.

Eriol's smile stretched. Li-kun scowled.

"I'm heading off to find Touya-kun and Tsukishiro-kun!" Nakuru announced to the world. "I overheard them yesterday talking about working here in the weekends."

Spinel muttered something about Nakuru's bad habit of eavesdropping.

"I HEARD their conversation, SUPPI! I WASN'T eavesdropping." She uttered with dignity.

Spinel mumbled some more incomprehensible things.

Nakuru violently complied by snatching a comical darting glare at the plush toy, fully intent on stuffing sweets in his mouth but decided against it... for now. Glomping Tsukishiro-kun and Touya-kun until their colors turn an unhealthy hue of blue to violet was number one on her agenda list. Feeding Suppi-chan would be next to, well, glomping them, she guessed.

"They must be over by one of the newly-established booths." Sakura thoughtlessly said, earning a gleaming, maniacal look from Nakuru. "Yukito-san told me that Onii-chan wanted to do some extra work to buy presents for Christmas this year." Her lips crossed. "Though I think his work already pays him more than what he really needs."

Eriol's smile radiated something like I Just Bet Your Onii-chan's Up To That 'Cause He Was Giving Me The 'I'll Strangle You And Make YOUR Life Miserable, Hiiragizawa — ALONG With Akizuki — If You Even DARE Do Something To My Baby Sister Again'. He was surprised to know that Sakura wasn't yet aware of her brother's sister complex.

"Really!" Nakuru was oozing euphoria. "Ooh! I wanna help out too!" and without a word more, she zoomed out of sight, leaving a sweat dropping Eriol, Li, Sakura, Tomoyo, Spinel and Kero on her wake.

"And that..." said Spinel, unconsciously imitating a gargoyle statue from the Notre Dame cathedral. "... Is one of the things I have to endure for as long as I exist."

Kero gruffly snorted. "Include _him_. I don't see much change given a lifetime."

"That's the reason why I said ONE of the things..." Spinel smugly agreed.

Eriol pouted cutely. "That's entirely mean..."

"And I _wonder _where they get it from..." Li-kun muttered sarcastically.

Tomoyo could only giggle.

* * *

"So," Spinel was eyeing the heap of prizes on Eriol's arms after engaging in a fierce competition of Who's Better In All The Games In The Amusement Park, where Eriol emerged victorious much to a grudging descendant's displeasure. "What are you going to do with all of those?" he inquired, looking up at his master who was momentarily observing Sakura-san, Li-kun and Daidouji-san.

They were peeking at something unusually interesting inside a paper bag full of goodies.

It was probably Kero passing in a state of immeasurable joy after hearing his mistress say he could have some of the chocolates and other sweet treats. And judging by the way the Li clan's head was glaring down at the paper bag, Spinel assumed that Kero must have been wolfing down more than what Sakura said he could touch — no personal implications upon the 'wolf' part.

He cringed at the thought. Well at least, he was spared from actually having Kero ram it down his throat _buuut _—he cautiously glanced at Eriol — he had a baaad feeling about that one. REALLY bad.

"These are for Nakuru-kun." Eriol smiled cheerfully. "She asked me to win something for her."

He knew it.

"And you just have to win ten games in a row to keep her happy..." He didn't look too pleased. "Am I not allowed to take some of my happiness?"

"I'll tell Nakuru to give you some chocolates." The teasing edge on his voice didn't match the gentleness on his face.

Spinel gave his master a Look anyway, then stared after him...

From where he was hiding, he could make out Sakura throwing in angry fits; Li was probably thinking of a hundred or more ways to strangle the living lights out of Kero; and, Daidouji was giggling in delight with a handy-dandy camcorder to capture the moment.

Spinel blinked. He looked up to his master once more and then back to Daidouji, to his master, then to Daidouji again. That occupied him for five seconds until he was certain he figured out Eriol's trail of thoughts. "It's amazing to know that some things stay the same..." he nodded approvingly. "No matter how drastic changes are on the outside."

Eriol nodded absently, still staring at Tomoyo with that unreadable gentle expression. "You noticed."

"It's blindingly obvious..." said Spinel, matter-of-factly. "Even _Nakuru _noticed."

Eriol glanced at the plush toy then chuckled. "Yes... she did now, didn't she?"

"Well, she _does_ know more than she cares to show." Spinel's tone suggested that he wished Nakuru would ACT more of it.

His master nodded again.

"I don't usually meddle with other people's affairs but somehow," Spinel released a surrendering sigh. "I can't seem to stand seeing her like that, Eriol." he looked up at his master, hopefully. "Did Clow Reed plan anything for her? I'm sure he knewthis would happen."

Eriol shook his head. "As much as some things really are unpredictable, even I — no — Clow Reed may over look things." He saw Li-kun's face flush, obviously from a remark given by a grinning Tomoyo. "And from the way things are turning out of thin air, I think Clow had other things in mind too. I'm sorry but I don't remember him planning anything for Daidouji-san." A small, tender smile formed on his lips. "As I've said before, I once thought that Yukito-san would return Sakura-san's feelings but..." his eyes gently settled at a clueless Sakura and a really, _really _red Syaoran — a _steaming_ Syaoran. "I was wrong..."

Eriol swore he heard Spinel mumble something about him, being wrong with a few _more_ things. He chose to ignore it anyway.

"So certainly, you're planning to do something..." said Spinel.

"Plotting to make Daidouji-san do something she had been doing for quite a long time would be fruitless, Spinel."

The plush toy quirked an eyebrow, "So I guess we'll be staying here for QUITE some time..." Deadpan. "What delightful news for Sakura's brother..."

Eriol lightly chuckled before turning one calculating glance at Tomoyo. Spinel stared after him then saw the chocolates. He stared at it for a while; turned to his master, to Daidouji then back to the chocolates again. He did that rotation for a minute until his idea bulb lit up... well, needless to say, he was actually getting a little dizzy. "You can start by giving those to Daidouji-san."

Eriol's eyes widened for a brief second then blinked, sorry to see the beginnings of a smirk on his creation's face. "If you're thinking in that light, Spinel, I'm not."

Spinel's smirk morphed dangerously. "Whatever did you mean by 'thinking in that light', Eriol-sama?" The smirk deepened. This was turning out better than planned.

He shrugged then glanced at Spinel Sun again. "Nothing... But I am curious about something though..." he retaliated, easily walking towards the shooting alley with a thoughtful look.

Spinel curiously eyed Eriol as he paid for the game and effortlessly brought down a target — a huge and horribly cute panda plush toy.

Silence was observed for a while.

It extended.

Then Spinel spoke. "Considering the fact that I could recall seeing Daidouji-san glancing at that particular booth earlier with unfathomable interest," Spinel was sharp enough to grasp the matter at hand, leaving Eriol wondering whether Spinel's smirk depicted evil or connivance. It was normally AND downright dangerous to see him imitating an innocent-looking imp on an oozing streak of evil roll—even more dangerous than Nakuru—so he settled for both. He wasn't loud but he spoke in volumes when needed. "I'm assuming you're not planning to give _that_ to Nakuru—" Spinel's smirk grew. "—Aren't you?"

"It seems you've grown a certain fondness for watching Daidouji-san."

"No more than as much as you do, Eriol."

He smiled, cheerfully. "You know me well, Spinel."

* * *

Syaoran was now _horribly_ aware of the fact that Hiiragizawa had been missing for quite some time now.

He didn't like it.

It brought back horrid memories from the past and he was feeling a ripping sense of paranoia whenever Hiiragizawa did his disappearing act. He craned his neck around the crowd and saw him walk towards a game booth; winning a plush panda that suddenly disappeared in thin air when he casually made a small hand gesture. He felt his eyebrow quirking in suspicion.

For whom, and where did it go?

"I want to ride the Ferris wheel!" announced Sakura, beaming a smile that could easily make Syaoran's knees buckle in the joints, crack, then fall. It was different today because he only managed a nod; half keeping his senses peeled for anything funny Hiiragizawa might be hiding up on his sleeves and half towards Sakura. Lucky for him though, his ancestor's missing and _much_ loathed presence didn't go by unnoticed for a second more, _after_ an _eternity_ of five minutes.

"Where's Hiiragizawa-kun?" asked Tomoyo.

"I'm here." Syaoran skewered Hiiragizawa's obnoxious smiling face. "Spinel insisted that I get Nakuru something."

Spinel mumbled something only his master heard.

Syaoran blinked, registering his words for a while, then concluded that the panda _must _be for Akizuki. There was no other possible reason. Nevertheless, he _darted_ a suspicious glare at Hiiragizawa. There's nothing wrong in sniffing trouble around the block, plus — he thought, darkly — it's safer to be cautious especially when you're around Hiiragizawa.

"Eriol-kun," Sakura looked up at him happily, "Is it okay if we ride on a Ferris wheel?"

Eriol nodded, cheerfully. "Of course..."

Syaoran could hear evil laughter from the way Hiiragizawa said 'of course'. "As long as I don't get to ride with him." He mumbled, audibly.

Eriol feigned a hurt look that Syaoran — wisely — didn't trust one bit. "If that's the case," he cheerfully pulled a smiling face, snatching a quick easy glance at his guardian. "Will I ride with Sakura-san?" he received a glare that promised death from Syaoran. "Or perhaps with Daidouji-san?" Syaoran SWORE his eyes were gently staring at Daidouji. "If you don't mind, that is?"

Tomoyo blinked. Then retaliated immediately with a smile. "Of course I don't, Hiiragizawa-kun."

Verbal hit-offs — polite verbal hit-offs, concluded Syaoran from where he was standing, momentarily forgetting that the yellow stuffed animal inside the paper bag was pigging out on his hard-earned prizes. And like most things about Hiiragizawa, he didn't like it... again.

He didn't like the way he looked at Daidouji because it wasn't at all like him. He didn't like how Hiiragizawa was looking at Daidouji because it's _too _gentle for any comfort and — Goddamn him — the look that Hiiragizawa was giving Daidouji was something familiarly unsettling. It's either he's hatching up something in his twisted brain box, or Hiiragizawa's at it again, just like when they were in fifth grade.

The only difference was he's doing it to Daidouji.

He frowned. Well, the difference wasn't even THAT far off, even if it was Daidouji. And he bet even Kinomoto Touya would form a truce with him to strangle or torture Hiiragizawa any given time.

He didn't like it.

Something was definitely going on.

* * *

"Sakura..." Syaoran made a mental note of bringing out the topic after getting in on one of the Ferris wheel capsules. "Aren't you sensing something unusual _reverberating_ FROM Hiiragizawa?"

"Hoe?" Sakura confusedly blinked at her fiancé.

"I mean," Syaoran frowned. "Think about it. He comes back all the way from England and announces he's staying here for quite some time..." his frown deepened, not at all liking the idea of Hiiragizawa staying because it probably meant added trouble. It's been hard enough coping with Daidouji's whims, and adding fuel to her already devious plots meant more than a nuclear explosion, for him at least. Between Hiiragizawa and Daidouji, he'd rather have... well... at least one of them in two separate places for goodness' sake! "Don't you think he's on to something again?"

Sakura pursed her lips at a thought, "I think..." a genuine smile replaced it. "If Eriol-kun _were _really planning something, it wouldn't hurt anybody. Eriol-kun is a very kind person and I doubt that he could even stomach hurting anybody... well, not intentionally at least." her lips crossed. "But I'm sure Eriol-kun would most likely prevent any danger before one even gets close to anyone."

Syaoran sighed. No, he grudgingly admitted that he didn't doubt it one bit. Hiiragizawa may spurt evil in any random occasions but one thing's for sure, he wouldn't hurt anybody unless he was provoked to do so — and that goes for serious matters, such as the attack last week.

He stopped.

How could he forget the attack?

"What about Clow's presence? Don't you find it unusual?" asked Syaoran.

Sakura peeked at the paper bag and saw a snoring Kero. She let a smile take over her lips before opening her mouth to speak. "Well, it IS unusual..." she shook her head, "And coincidental..." she hesitated, "but I just _know _there's something more."

He raised an eyebrow, inquisitively.

"I don't know how to explain it..." she pouted, looking extremely helpless — though Syaoran knew more than to see Sakura in the helpless department. He was even closer to it in terms of power. "But somehow, I just _know_ that everything will really be okay... for everyone." she glanced behind Syaoran and stared at the capsule that bore her best friend and the reincarnated mage. "... Even for Tomoyo-chan... I'm pretty sure that _everything_ will be alright."

Syaoran could only stare and _half_ agree.

Well, she's the one who has foresight...

* * *

"I never really had the chance to talk with you, Hiiragizawa-kun." Tomoyo said, smiling up at Eriol's cheerful face. "How have you been these past years?"

"You would know if you didn't stop writing back then." he accused with a cute pout, earning a guilty giggle from Tomoyo and a look from Spinel that depicted both amusement and interest.

"I'm sorry..." She giggled some more. "I didn't get the chance to write back to your last letter because I was too busy with work." she smiled apologetically at Eriol. If her memory serves her right, the last time she had written him a letter was when she was still in high school — right before she entered college. It wasn't entirely her fault to begin with because unlike any other normal college student, Tomoyo spent her college years, juggling her time expertly at work and at school. And even if she DID find some time to spend for her self, she didn't have the energy to engage in any activities other than sleeping.

Come to think of it, maybe her bad habit of working too much — or so Sakura-chan and the others say, she amended defensively — developed within those years; along with other reasons, said a nagging voice at the back of her head.

She instantly batted it away before it got the best of her.

"Everything's okay." Eriol settled for a gentler look, while Spinel scoffed something under his breath. Tomoyo blinked at him and then turned a puzzled look at Eriol. "And I hope your late nights at work are doing you fabulous credit?" he simply smiled, blue eyes meeting blue-violets.

"Yes..." Tomoyo cheerfully answered despite the fact that the steady thud-thud of her heart had somehow gone crazy for a while before settling into its regular normal beat. She inhaled to compose herself before speaking, "I'm doing great." she was thankful she didn't stammer even if she was now aware of something radiating from his stare — electricity, perhaps — that somehow made her feel uncomfortable on the insides; and, she didn't like it one bit. Knowing that the reason was still at dark didn't help improve her puzzled state and what annoyed her most was that she was feeling something that she couldn't quite comprehend. Tomoyo never liked feeling something she couldn't understand.

It was frustrating her so she _tried _to set it aside for scrutiny later. Much later. It's not wise to be showy around Hiiragizawa since he had a really bad habit of seeing through her barriers without putting up much of an effort. "It's great but it can get a bit stressing at times." and so, within the span of a microsecond, she plastered a smile on her lips.

"So I've heard from Sakura-san." Eriol returned the smile, drawing her eyes to his. "She's very happy now, isn't she?"

She forced the butterflies away from her chest, seriously considering that riding the Ferris wheel with Hiiragizawa-kun was a terrible, _terrible _mistake for her part, even if Spinel was with them. "Yes..." she managed, calmly, eventually staring out at the capsule behind Eriol with a gentle smile as if she was actually seeing Sakura there. "She's very happy with Li-kun."

Spinel and Eriol switched casual but meaningful glances.

"And how about you?" Eriol suddenly injected, snapping Tomoyo out of her reverie to meet his gentle gaze. She didn't know exactly what was going on but Hiiragizawa's gentleness was somehow affecting the speed of her heart's thudding; it was really uncomfortable, and quite annoying, she just might scream. "Are you happy, Daidouji-san?" _too _uncomfortable; Hiiragizawa did have a bad habit of seeing right through her. "But of course you are..." only his light chuckling reached her dulled senses; too fazed to even react and too late to realize that he's _not_ being _fair_. "You must forgive my rudeness."

"Oh no... Really." She steeled herself and plastered a smile once more. "Yes... I'm quite content with everything."

Content? She blinked at that.

Wasn't Hiiragizawa asking her if she was _happy_?

She fought the urge to groan. Now, she couldn't _believe_ her subconscious mental processes were being turncoats, like her secretary, too.

And why was she feeling obligated to answer his question anyway?

Tomoyo looked at Hiiragizawa and swore she saw the faintest sign of a smirk appear for a microsecond, before it transformed into a full _obnoxious_ smile. She didn't like it, thus, making her swear to be cautious in handling her emotions and thoughts around this man. Strictly observed caution. Extra, extra caution in handling her emotions...

"I'm sure you are_ content _with everything." And it seemed like Hiiragizawa noticed too.

She frowned inwardly. She should've known Hiiragizawa was pulling her strings and pushing her buttons.

"Daidouji-san," he was now dripping an aura of uncanny lightness, which Tomoyo suspected as bait meant to fish her out of the bowl. "If you're really—" his words were blocked. The half reincarnated mage stopped, suddenly looking distressed as he abruptly craned his neck to look out with Spinel Sun.

Tomoyo stared after them.

* * *

Nakuru and Yukito stopped at exactly the same time and turned to face the clock tower of the amusement park.

"Oh dear..." Nakuru muttered seriously, earning a strange look from Touya who was in the process of driving a nail on a plank. He turned to look at Yukito and noted that both of them bore identical puzzled and distressed looks. He aimed, mindlessly, for the nail but hit his thumb instead. "Ouch!" he yelped, nursing his thumb as several people—mostly girls and a few not so girls—threw concerned looks at him.

And those several people didn't include Nakuru — who would normally pounce him and make his hurting thumb all the more unbearable instead of actually healing it — and Yukito.

Something was wrong.

_Again_.

* * *

The condition on the other Ferris wheel capsule was clearly the same since Sakura and Syaoran were now up and searching the grounds for anything fishy. Even the snoring guardian beast, who was chanting a song or mantra of the sort with lyrics that was mainly composed of chocolates and cakes and pastries in his sleep, blasted out of the paper bag with a yelp to alertly search for the source of the familiar and much loathed auras, much to his mistress and the brat's surprise.

"It's them..." murmured the false form of the guardian beast. "They're somewhere nearby."

"How are you sure about that?" asked an annoyed-looking Syaoran.

Kero bounced an equally annoyed look at him. "Well you brat, considering your point of stupidity up until now, it's really hard to wake me up when I fall asleep."

"Which proves you're a lazy bum..."

"What WAS that!"

They were only stopped when charges of powerful magic gave them goose bumps. The bickering duo turned and saw the same blank and gleaming look in Sakura's eyes, creeping the wits out of their holes to scamper off and hide somewhere safe... in a different dimension. "They're here..." she said.

Kero and Syaoran could only switch glances.

* * *

Inside the clock tower stood the hooded figure, surrounded by golden radiance. His staff was thrust firmly on the ground where Clow's magical insignia shone brightly...

He smirked from beneath his hood.

* * *

Sakura and Syaoran immediately leapt out of the capsule and searched the grounds for the aura. "It's over there!" pointed Syaoran towards the Clock Tower, almost at the same time when the people around them started disappearing.

Once more, it was déjà vu.

"They do have something about festivals, do they?" Kero flew out of his hiding place and transformed, half glaring. "Geez... what a bunch of party poopers."

Eriol jumped a few feet down the capsule and helped Tomoyo do the same. Spinel flew out in the open and automatically transformed into his true form.

"Eriol!" Ruby Moon landed beside her master with Yue trailing closely. "It's them. They're coming."

"Where's onii-chan?" asked Sakura.

"He disappeared along with the others..." said Yue, slightly wondering why one non-magical creature didn't vanish.

Heavy silence hung in the air as everyone warily eyed the grounds for any signs of uninvited company. It didn't take a long time though, before somebody finally had the grace to break the flowing silence, "S-Sakura..." Tomoyo poked Sakura, looking paler than usual as she stared at something... unusual.

Sakura spun around and immediately felt her jaw sag...

An army of plush toys, coming in all sizes and horrible cuteness, were marching towards them in a formation.

Beads of sweat started to roll down everyone's heads.

Then, a ball of radiance coming from an unknown source took shape in mid air; magnetizing each variety of plush toys towards its direction. They have inkling of what's going to happen next but still they stared. And the next thing they knew, they were already staring at a humongous plush penguin that clearly resembled the biggest one in King Penguin Park, with an addition of a big yellow sledgehammer.

It made a gruff sound and moved, flumping clumsily on the ground with a heavy thump in the process.

Even Yue sweat dropped.

"Hey Hiiragizawa..." called Li without taking his eyes off the struggling penguin. "Are you _sure _you're not involved in this?"

Eriol blankly stared at the humongous hammer-wielding plush toy. "I've had my share already..." he stole a quick glance at Spinel and Cerberus — who speared him in a glance in return — and then abruptly turned towards the penguin. Somehow, he felt relieved in choosing the cute panda over the penguin plush toy — it vaguely reminded Eriol of Spinel Sun with its deadpan expression and annoyed eyes so he voted for the panda — at the game booth earlier. At least, if ever the receiver of said toy would see it, she wouldn't freak out of the memory, though Eriol thought she would most-likely freak out of missing a kawaii Sakura-chan moment than facing a full-grown fire-breathing dragon.

The penguin struggled to stand up and made a loud-sounding thump with its foot on the ground.

"Isn't this too much of..." Sakura was staring, dot-eyed, at the penguin. "... a cliché?" There was no other word for it.

Tomoyo was dumbfounded. Dot-eyed as well.

After a few leg-wobbling moments, the penguin finally managed to drop a heavy glare upon Sakura-tachi.

A pause followed; buckets of sweat were trailing down each of their heads.

Then the penguin made the loudest gruff sound of all — it awfully sounded like a grunting pig — before raising its hammer to pound them.

The ground rattled.

"Hey Hiiragizawa! I have a question!" Li immediately jumped out of the way when the sledgehammer descended on his path, "What's with Clow Reed and stuffed animals?" he asked quite loudly, earning a darting look from Cerberus.

"I won't take it against you if that'd bring comfort." Spinel smugly turned a brief look at Li before flying out of harm's way. Then, he opened his mouth to release a ruby beam.

It was a direct hit.

The annoyed-looking penguin faltered a few steps back and fell on a supine position on the ground, barely missing the carousel in the process.

"I think it's cute..." answered Eriol, smiling lightly at his cute descendant.

A vein swelled on the two Larger Versions of the Plush Toys' heads.

* * *

Atop the clock tower stood a dot-eyed Raven and Cyrus, together with their master who had this really ridiculously amused and cheerful smile on his lips.

One big bead of sweat was trailing down Raven's head as she stared at the unusual, ongoing event. "Mind explaining why a clumsy_ penguin _of all things?" another sweat dropped when the penguin wobbled around and flumped on the ground, heightening its clumsiness by ten folds. "Okaaaaay... I'm taking my statement back... a clumsy, CLUMSY pen—" a crash, "—guin?" dot-eyed.

Cyrus was too overwhelmingly dumbstruck to even speak.

The cheerful smile on their master's lips intensified. "It's cute."

His guardians hit the ground with an unhealthy sounding thud.

"With all due respect, sire... You DO have problems..." Cyrus smiled, imitating a picture of someone who had something sour for lunch and was on the verge of throwing it up, "Mental problems."

And for the record, Raven agreed.

* * *

Being the only non-magical being in the group, Tomoyo was left on the ground to do nothing but capture the footage on video. She didn't mind, really. But sometimes, she just couldn't help it but feel a little useless. She wished she could do something to lend a hand. Or protect Sakura, one way or the other, but right now, the only rein she could hold on to was Li's promise to protect Sakura-chan to the very last of his breath...

A sad smile crept on her lips as she maneuvered the camera.

Maybe, she was right after all. Assuming that she couldn't do anything but give them moral support, Sakura-chan was every inch, capable of protecting her rather than the other way around. The only upper hand she had was her ability to observe keenly — scarily, amended Touya-niichan, while blushing ten shades of red, when Tomoyo commented something about him being concerned and all about Sakura's overnight duty at work even though he wasn't even saying anything — and her ability to keep her composure in check under stressful conditions.

She sighed. Things really had turned upside-down now. Changes in life really are inevitable as she had always thought but—

"Konbanwa, Tomoyo-san..." her trail of musings was cut short upon hearing a female's smooth voice.

Tomoyo swiveled — camera and all — despite the feeling of her heart pounding against her ears.

And once more, she found herself face to face with the tiger and the Yue-san counterpart...

* * *

A very pissed off moon guardian that went by the name of Yue, was firing rounds after rounds of crystal shards. The reason why he was pissed off was because, they had been deliberately trying to bring it down for some time now but it WASN'T even showing signs of weakening. He burrowed his brows and launched another batch, prickling the oversized plush toy like a pincushion.

He didn't know what THIS was all about. Why would Clow engage them into fights like this? And thinking of his former master's involvement in this kind of disturbance, he frowned, he just KNEW he foresaw everything that was happening. Meaning, this entire trouble WAS deliberate. It was all part of his plan...

But why?

Sakura-san collected the cards. He and Cerberus were in good hands. And everything was fine and dandy so, why was HE causing trouble now?

There must be something else. Something that he couldn't remember... he halted.

Or maybe something that Clow didn't WANT him to remember...

"Yue! Look out!" He heard someone shout, warningly.

Yue spun and saw the hammer descending his path. It was too close for any actions but, surprisingly, something red zoomed in and cleared him out of the way. "Were you EVEN listening?" it was a glaring Ruby Moon. Considering the fact that she had been doing nothing but annoying him under the impression of a kindergartner in sugar-overdose, Ruby Moon, was in fact, glaring at him — not the normal and much anticipated 'You See You Dumbass, I Actually Rescued You From Your Stupidity' kind of glare, but a different, chokeconcernedchoke kind of glare; and Yue didn't know if he wanted to puke blood at that. "Stop thinking too much..." she said, "You should learn more from Tsukishiro-kun... he's more fun than you are." she replaced the concerned look with a smug one. Instantly, Yue felt the urge to throw her down the 40th floor of Daidouji Company building with a hundred pounds of metal tied around her feet. "But don't worry, Yue-san..." she turned a comical glance at Yue. "I'll always be there to save you. I got your back, ne?" she winked and patted him on the head as if he was a little boy.

Yue looked extremely murderous.

He was still busy throwing her his Looks when Ruby Moon's gaze narrowed at something above them once more, "Move!" she shouted and pushed him out of the hammer's way.

"Two in a row!" Ruby Moon grinned. Yue frowned and let the plush toy suffer his wrath instead by using it as a gigantic pincushion — or something similar to that — for his bolts of crystal shards. She DID have a point, he admitted grudgingly, but she really DIDN'T need to flaunt it over HIS face.

And by that, he went over the fence and leagues, out of the definition by being officially, scarily cranky.

He somehow managed to make the penguin look like a giant cactus with crystal-clear thorns — or shards, or whatever possible name one would wish to bestow upon it. But all that Yue knew was that, he's positively, absolutely, not liking the idea of a certain Ruby Moon getting the upper hand. He almost exploded. Again.

Good thing the penguin was there to serve as his pincushion.

* * *

"Hey Suppi!" called Cerberus. A vein swelled on Spinel's head, "Check this out!" he opened his mouth and blasted a good round of flame — in higher intensity than usual — burning the penguin's arm in whole. It tried to extinguish the flame with its other arm but unfortunately for it, Li made sure, with his kashin shourai, it didn't even flap one single bit. "Bulls eye!" grinned the lion.

"Show off..." Spinel grumbled.

"Now I would LOVE to see that on video! I'm SO cool!"

"_Stupid_, _conceited_, _GREEDY_, show off..." Spinel grumbled some more with passion.

"Did you capture my AWESOME move on that thing, Tomoyo-chaaaan?" He cackled delightedly and turned towards the empty ground. "Tomoyo-chan?" He blinked and eyed the ground still. "Where's Tomoyo-chan?"

A brief shriek was heard from the Clock Tower.

Everyone spun around and saw the hooded figure poise his forefinger up on Tomoyo's forehead. And, after a certain yellow light flickered, she was rendered unconscious...

Yue's eyes widen in realization. So, that's the reason why one non-magical being didn't vanish. They were after the mistress' best friend.

"Tomoyo-chaaaaaaaan!" screamed Sakura, immediately pulling out a card to give the annoying, _annoyed_ penguin one good beating. "Earthy!"

In two shakes, the earthy card shook the grounds and half swallowed the penguin. She pulled out another card, "Sword!" Sakura flew forward and divided the penguin into two, miserable halves; sending a burst of plush toys riveting everywhere before catapulting herself upward towards the clock tower; the fly card sprouting on her back.

The others followed; Cerberus landed on the ground and shouted at Li, "Hey brat!" he called. "Saddle up!"

Well, they could get along when they wanted to, anyway.

Li immediately jumped behind Cerberus and made a flying dash towards the clock tower. It was then did he sense the familiar aura again. "Is that..." Li quietly spoke, but the bigger version of the plush toy heard him.

"It's him alright..." said Cerberus, "But what does he want with Tomoyo?"

"You tell me." answered Li, double checking Hiiragizawa and was severely disappointed to find out he was telling the truth.

* * *

Sakura abruptly halted and spun, realizing that she was really seeing something on the side while they were flying out towards the Clock Tower. "Shield!" a single sapphire shard collided on her barrier.

"Didn't think so..." said the winged female; smirking back at them in amusement with inexplicable confidence.

Yue jumped — _flew_ forward to defend his mistress. Ruby Moon followed; and so did Spinel Sun, Cerberus and Li-kun in tow, all bearing the same murderously skewering glares.

She let out one calculating smile; "I wouldn't worry a trifle about the one in front of me, for a while... well, not just YET at least..." she threw a look at her master who was currently carrying an unconscious Tomoyo. "If one other case meant more than the other..."

The hooded figure smirked, chuckling amused evil.

Sakura looked worried. Eriol and Spinel stared at them in quiet dislike. Ruby Moon scowled. Yue glared.

Li and Cerberus swore the same word, at the same time.

"Mind introducing yourself first?" Eriol floated next to them, Sakura followed shortly.

The winged female merely smirked. Then the tiger suddenly materialized next to her, "You must forgive her rudeness..." he smiled, amiably, as if upon appearance he was expecting a casual trivial discussion over a cup of green tea and delicious sweets. "My name is Cyrus and she's Raven." The smile on Cyrus' face turned awfully cheerful. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance!"

He wasn't even offended when seven deadpanned faces met him.

"Well they don't look too pleased..." Raven chuckled, amusedly. "But I guess it could be pardoned, especially..." she turned a mocking look at a half-scowling Li-kun. "After what I did to him..."

"Speak for yourself..." Cyrus grinned at the dangerous glares he was receiving from Spinel Sun and Cerberus, positively turning murderous, both in thoughts and in looks. His grin intensified.

He could tell how fun everything would be later on...

"How about him?" Eriol looked extremely calm, which wasn't entirely a good sign, thought Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. Whenever Eriol resorted to _that _look in extreme cases, it usually meant he's totally disliking the whole situation. It's just his way of setting things in order before going to his actual plan and this certainly had a lot to do with everything. And both his guardians knew Eriol was exactly the epitome of the saying, action speaks louder than words — more than the cat and mouse show on a TV program that Spinel Sun abhors since it was giving Nakuru ideas of twisted fun for herself, and torture FOR himself — and quite dangerous at that. They didn't want to think about it.

"I don't think we're called to answer that but if you wanted to, you may as well approach him..." muttered Raven before poising her right hand up with a lopsided smile, suggesting danger after glowing shards of sapphires began surrounding her. "And our master instructed us as well to give you... presents..." she smiled, sweetly, with a biting, dangerous edge to it since his piercing green-gray eyes were surely talking in volumes. Large volumes.

Cyrus settled comfortably in midair and opened his mouth. The same dangerous radiance was building up in concentration.

They had a horrible sense of what was coming next, and before anyone could even say snap, the attacks came out at the same time...

"Shield!" Sakura summoned again, light surrounding them in a way that proved to be fatal if necessary courses of actions were not taken into considerations.

"Where's Eriol?" Ruby Moon broke the ice, looking around inside the barrier in distress. When everybody was aware of the fact that Eriol wasn't inside the barrier, they couldn't do anything but wait until the light faded. And when it did, they just saw him coming face to face with the hooded man.

Spinel and Ruby Moon were most horrified. "Eriol!" they darted out of the barrier but were stopped midway by Cyrus and Raven.

"What's wrong?" Cyrus feigned a hurt look, clicking his tongue in the process before turning a glance towards the clock tower. "Don't you guys wanna play with us anymore?"

Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun looked like they wanted to roast him, then mince him to minute sizes until no one would ever recognize him anymore; and then, afterwards, feed him to the sharks to complete the whole set of passionate torture.

Li-kun cursed and muttered something about dumb heroics, and how he would _absolutely _kill Hiiragizawa if something bad happens to him. In other words, Li-kun was saying he actually cared for the guy.

Though he'd lash his tongue out first before Hiiragizawa hears it.

* * *

Eriol confronted the hooded figure, straight-faced. "Clow Reed..." he said, "I wasn't aware there are three of us..." he suspiciously lowered a Look to check, "Or WERE there?"

He heard him chuckle evilly. Too evil, in fact, he even dumped the suspicion that this was Fujitaka-sensei cloaked in burnoose hood. "Let's just say that Clow Reed hid a lot of things..." he smiled. "Because if he didn't, you never would've created mistakes—" Eriol's eyes narrowed at this. "—And learned from them."

"What do you mean by that?" there was a dangerous biting edge in Eriol's voice as his eyes narrowed into slits.

"I remember Fujitaka-sensei saying something about Clow Reed leaving something for you to figure out..." the hooded man upturned a smile, "... and I just HAVE to agree... It isn't accurate but it can stand as a clue..." he chuckled. "Because it wouldn't be fun at all if you remember... You just have to fall into the puzzle perfectly... Eriol-kun."

And if there was one thing that Eriol didn't like, it was being utterly confused in such dangerous position.

* * *

"They're talking..." Yue's eyes narrowed down at Eriol's and the hood's figures on the clock tower.

"Really?" Cerberus made an effort to dodge the tiger's attack with Li-kun holding on, listening to their conversation as well. "I wonder what they're talking about this time... Duck."

Li slumped down, barely saving himself from Cyrus' claws; Cerberus made a motion to ram the tiger's side but failed.

"Probably some stuff about the past..." Li-kun suggested, halting a trifle to glance at the clock tower. "But really... Clow reincarnated himself into three?" he shook his head, "Even so, why would he do something like this?"

Yue and Cerberus shrugged.

"He had problems. And Clow, more or less, had a very twisted way of thinking. He doesn't talk about his plans a lot so..." Cerberus explained, dodging another attack before ramming his head on the tiger's side again. "Don't. Ask. Me."

Yue, grudgingly, HAD to agree.

And all the while Cyrus was dodging each of their attacks; he allowed an impish snicker under his breath, totally aware of their little verbal exchange...

* * *

Eriol was still processing his words in his brain. What did he mean by falling into the puzzle perfectly?

Sure, it was very much like Clow Reed to form mental puzzles of plans in his head but he couldn't figure out how or why, for the life of it, his past self placed HIM — which was technically, HIMSELF — on one of the checkered boxes. What annoyed him equally was he couldn't remember. He didn't have a clue. He was utterly at the point of unknowing everything that was happening, he even felt sorry for Fujitaka-sensei for living a life under the fog of fake memories and other things...

Well, even if he is, said the little voice inside his head, at least Fujitaka-sensei is happier than you are.

He kicked himself mentally before turning a bland look at the hood. It wasn't the time for jigsaw questions. "Even so, why are you involving Daidouji-san in all of these?"

The hood turned a suspicious-looking lazy smile, "Nothing much really..." Clow Reed's insignia appeared beneath him, "I just want to know your reaction if something terrible happens to one of your..." the smile revealed its evil streak, "Friends..."

Eriol sharply stared at him. "Do NOT involve others in this one."

His other self only snickered then motioned to do something...

Eriol's eyes widened. "Don't you even dare..." he warned, raising his own staff that was identical with the other's own...

Their spells collided.

* * *

Tsuzuku...

a.) Originally, I wasn't really planning to separate the second part of winter season but my precious beta reader (VampirePeaches! 'Waves') told me it was toooooo loooooooooong. (I agree anyway... 19,000 words... ehehehe) So I split this up to two but I'm going to post it soon, don't worry... XD XD XD So give me reviews, else I'm not going to do anything! XD XD XD


	4. Winter Season Part Two v2

**SEASON OF WINTER**  
Part Two v2  
**By: Lau-kun**

**Disclaimer: **A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Yeah... that's putting it mildly... XD)

Feedbacks are always welcome, even cruel ones! VampirePeaches! (Yeah, I would never get tired of thanking you) you're really something!

**For those who previously read this story. **I... uh... deleted the prologue coz I think it needed attention. Read chapter two, okay? XD XD XD and review! Please! And No, this is NOT a new chappie. Just edited it coz a lot of people had been telling me it's toooooooooo loooooooong!

* * *

**Winter**

Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.

* * *

Sakura wondered what happened to Eriol-kun.

After sensing the undeniable clashing of two powerful magical waves, Sakura felt the urge tosee for herself what had happened to Eriol-kun.She wanted to turn. But she couldn't. Raven was busy keeping her attention for herself with obvious motives... well, alright,perhaps not _too_ obvious motives since she couldn't quite comprehend why they were letting Eriol-kun fight their master. And in par with their first encounter, it seemed like her skill had doubled. Sakura wasn't even aware someone could possess such skill and still live (in all modesty, Sakura never actually thought about the amount of power she had, while basically, all powerful beings would nash their eyeteeth just to give it one single wave).

Anyway, she was still wondering WHY they were letting Eriol-kun fight their master.

And what about Tomoyo-chan?

Sakura was desperately feeling the urge to know. She really, _really _wanted to know the reason, that she almost triggered her foresight to work on such dangerous time. It was a good thing though, her opponent had some grace in her to speak out and snap her out of it. Whether it was intentional or not, she really didn't know. "You should concentrate more on what you're doing than straying towards other thoughts," said Raven, surprising Sakura a bit while she was swishing her sword around. "It's not in my nature to be pushy but if you don't concentrate, I might inflict damage on you."

Sakura was confused. "Isn't that what you want?"

Raven grinned. "Yes well..." her grin widened, a bit sheepish much to Sakura's wonder. "I don't want to do it with much ease now, do I? Where's the challenge in _that_?"

And so, their duel continued.

* * *

"Give. Her. Back. Clow... _Now_." Murderous poison was in Eriol's voice. If his guardians saw him like this then they'll undoubtedly note it as Eriol's hidden streak of...well, it was simply Eriol's dangerous, _dangerous _streak that they wouldn't even dare encompass given the seven tortures of hell itself. They would probably make a truce to not go on the path of pissing him anymore than their usual act of rubbing on his nerves up to no end. Not that they've gone that far, oh no. Eriol was too used to their babbling, ramblings and occasional bossy mode but this — _this_ case, was entirely different.

Nakuru only goes for fun in getting Spinel Sun drunk. Spinel Sun could be as murderous in thoughts but both of them never crossed the line of actually hurting one another to the extremes. Even if one of them wanted to, they couldn't and wouldn't because they had deeper affinities than one could ever imagine. It's a sibling complex, comparable to that of Touya-kun's sister complex. And logic dictated — he glared even more at the hooded man — that this unknown Clow reincarnate meant more than what he's saying; even more dangerous than just finding out his reaction if he _hurts _any of his friends.

And it was not wise to anger Eriol, even if he only had half of his powers left.

Clow chuckled. "I guess I go by that name now..." he chuckled some more, somehow finding a cryptic humor in Eriol's words. It took Eriol an effort to control the flowing anger boiling inside him, like hot molten magma, since if he did blow up, he would most likely hurt Daidouji too, which he was avoiding at all costs.

And he wouldn't forgive himself if he does now, wouldn't he? Asked the little voice inside him again. Yes, he wouldn't forgive himself if something happens to one of his close friends even though technically; Daidouji-san and him were far from being considered close.

Still, he cares for her. In a way...

* * *

Tomoyo's eyes were shut but her mind wasn't.

Her head was reeling in confusion as she paid close attention to the conversation that had been happening around her. She could remember faint light. And even before that, she could remember two winged beings introducing themselves politely as Cyrus and Raven, cornering her down the clock tower and carrying her towards their master.

It was strange but she somehow realized, though disturbingly, that Cyrus was being extra careful. And Raven was too, while they were carrying her to the top. They were even bickering over trivial matters such as the other is an idiot and then the other would most likely shred his fur to convert him into a convenient throw-rug. It would've been funny if the circumstances were different, but anyway...

She met him.

It was Clow. He introduced himself as Clow Reed but why on earth did he had that burnoose hood pulled over his head?

"But don't forget..." Clow spoke with unfathomable cheer in his voice, "that you're as much of Clow Reed as I am, Eriol-kun. Though not _quite _Clow, it counts..." he smiled.

Eriol-kun. Tomoyo processed the name in her mind. It was Hiiragizawa.

And she concluded again, perhaps, he doesn't want Hiiragizawa to see his face.

"It's not yet the time to know who I am, Eriol." said Clow.

At least, not yet as he says...

Mental unconsciousness came and took her to rest.

* * *

"So for the mean time, let's play this part now, shall we?" Clow smiled lopsidedly and drew the staff on his hands. Golden radiance appeared beneath him again and then, Tomoyo levitated in mid air. "Such a pretty thing... don't you think so, Eriol-kun?" the smile on Clow's face appeared dangerous and extremely obnoxious for his liking. "I think I wouldn't mind keeping her around for a while."

Before he could add another word, Eriol launched forward, only to be repelled by a powerful barrier surrounding his other self.

Clow's chuckle was dripping evil. "That is a problem now, don't you think?" he cheerfully added — cheerfully evil if that were a possible combination. Well he didn't have a hard time combining those two so it must be possible. Eriol frowned, loathing his other self more than he already did.

"Don't YOU even dare do something to her." Eriol warned, wincing a bit from the unexpected contact with his nemesis' barrier. The pain in his body was tingling but he found his worry too overwhelming to even think of his own safety. Daidouji did nothing to deserve this. Nor did anybody so if this was Clow, then it was his business to stop it — through wire and fire.

He has to because they were one in a point of their life. Technically, if his other self was doing this to Daidouji, then, he might as well hang his self for pleas of guilt. Two — or three people were one, thus, making one responsible for the other. And if that were the case, he would feel responsible if anything should happen to her. And he just WOULDN'T forgive his self if anything should happen to Daidouji.

Never.

"No?" it was a drawled rhetorical question; Clow raised his staff, emitting golden radiance of dangerous sparks. "I don't know about you..." he allowed one _purely _EVIL smile. "But I think it would be lots of fun..."

It was enough to make Eriol snap and blow Clow out to oblivion.

And, before he could even see what happened to his other reincarnated self, Eriol was already carrying the unconscious Tomoyo; murmuring words despite the fear that materialized out of the blue, hammering endlessly on his chest. "It's alright... You're safe with me..." he pushed several violet tresses away from her face before letting out a shaky sigh of relief. "Because... It's me..." an unexpected emotion of desperation surged through him, "I can assure you that I'm not like that at all..."

It was only then did he realize he wanted reassurance.

And oddly, he found it as he was staring upon Daidouji's serene expression as she was unconsciously lying in his arms.

Only now, he didn't know if his comforting words were meant for Daidouji or for himself...

* * *

Raven's katana was descending down the path and Sakura waited for it to clash with her own sword... only to have her blinking in confusion as her opponent disappeared in a blink. "Hoe?" The last sound of steel clashing with steel still hung in the air.

"Where'd they go?" Spinel spun his head around, only to see — much to his distress — a massive fur ball that goes by the name of Cerberus, midway to hurling pure concentrations of fire from his mouth...well, at least, not until his black counterpart decides to scamper away, judging by the pained look on Cerberus' face.

He couldn't handle it.

Spinel's eyes imitated two round saucers, sweating buckets, as he saw his yellow counterpart let go of the massive concentrations of flame towards _him_. He managed to move away but not without getting wisps of his curly tail burned upon contact...

Silence was observed.

Spinel narrowed his eyes upon his tail in dislike. "May I kindly remind YOU that YOU should be targeting the ENEMY and NOT somebody from YOUR side?" Veins swelled on the black guardian's head.

Everyone sweat dropped.

Cerberus chuckled nervously, "Eheh... Originally, it wasn't meant for you..." He _tried _to explain.

More veins popped out of Spinel's head.

Well at least he was telling the truth. Cerberus had another bead of sweat rolling down his head...

* * *

"Tomoyo-chan! Eriol-kun!" Sakura landed, running in frenzy towards Eriol and immediately inspected the lady on his arms. She suddenly looked troubled. "Is she alright?"

Eriol nodded, weakly. "Nothing serious was done. The spell was only meant to render her unconscious."

"What happened to the hooded guy?" Li looked around the still empty grounds. "Is he really Clow Reed?"

Eriol nodded. "He suddenly disappeared after I cast a spell." he answered calmly; quite contradicting to what he felt when he blasted Clow to nowhere. He earned Yue and Cerberus' puzzled looks. "At least, that's what he wanted me to call him." he concernedly stared upon Tomoyo, "Although I'm not sure what he told Daidouji-san."

"Tomoyo-chan's alright for now..." Sakura held her best friend's hands. "Everyone else is and that's all that matters... for this time at least." she looked up at Eriol and smiled. "Thank you Eriol-kun."

"I'm still not sure about the 'everyone' part." suggested Spinel with a frown, holding up his burnt tail for his master to see. "This is the second time I got hurt and the credit goes to Cerberus." it shows that he was really, _really _annoyed. "He BURNED my tail."

All but Spinel and the unconscious Tomoyo sweat dropped.

"I already said I'm sorry!" exclaimed a sheepish Cerberus; sweat dropping all the way.

* * *

"I was wondering when you would decide to make an exit." Raven was frowning more than usual, earning a funny look from Cyrus who was more cheerful than his female cohort was at least. He did enjoy the 'exercise', as he named the encounter, but he found out that Raven wasn't at all too happy with what she was doing.

"I take it you didn't enjoy yourself?" Cyrus' question was a rhetorical one. Other than Raven's perfect rendition of a grumpy old bachelor from a famous book — minus her being a female, so Yue was still considered to be the epitome of the grumpy old man, except that he really doesn't look that old — her voice was basically dripping it all in dislike. And as always, he found it amusing. "It must be a bore to fight with only one person."

Raven only snorted.

"I'll take that as a yes..." snickered Cyrus. Raven skewered him in a glance.

"I could tell he wasn't at all too pleased with you taking Tomoyo-san like that." said Raven, deciding against the thought of pulling her katana and shredding the throw rug's fur. "What did you talk about?"

Clow smiled cheerfully again, "Things about the past... about how he would feel if I did something bad to his friends... and... a few comments enough to make him decide to blow me out to oblivion." the cheerful smile intensified. And it would've crept Cyrus and Raven if they weren't too used to their master's smiley nature that bordered on inexplicable weirdness already. But they guessed, it went to people who knew too much, with Sakura-san's exemption of course.

"Oh I'm _sure_..." she balled her eyeballs around, "And does blowing out to oblivion include us?" Raven arced one perfectly curved eyebrow, "What do you get from it?"

"Save your sorry behind from Sakura-chan." Cyrus muttered audibly.

"One more from you and I'll pacify your mouth with a shard." Raven dismissed her snickering companion immediately. "I'm sure you don't mean to play dead after this... aren't you?"

Cyrus made a gruff noise and grinned, "And what are the possibilities of your asinine deduction?"

"No more asinine than your lousy comments of being a smart ass..." Raven turned a sickeningly sweet smile at Cyrus, "Believe me, you're terrible at it, Cy-chan."

"Who asked YOUR opinion?" snarled the tiger.

The femme just turned a more diabetic smile at him. "Who did yours?"

Clow smiled fondly over his creations. "Well, in a way, both of you are correct."

Raven and Cyrus turned to face their master. "We are?" they chorused, switching glares for a second before turning back to their master, questioningly.

"About you not playing dead after all these?" asked Raven.

Clow nodded, still bearing the smile.

"About Raven being a complete and utter asinine?" Cyrus asked, grinning happily and receiving skewering looks from Raven who didn't hesitate this time to do action.

It only took seconds to pacify Cyrus' mouth with a shard that suddenly materialized as he was grinning. "REIFFEN! Geff shish shofsh! Geff shish SHOOOOOFSH!" His spittle was visibly dropping.

Clow sweat dropped.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." Raven looked extremely pleased with herself. Cyrus was muttering muffled profanities.

"I'm not referring to that, Cyrus" chuckled Clow as they let him roll around with an effort in the background, for the sake of removing the shard. "I have other things in mind but right now I think it's time to call it a day." He nodded apologetically at Sakura-san's group. "I've been messing up with their plans of having fun twice now and I can't help but feel a little guilty."

"_Tell _me about it..." a sarcastic Raven eyed her master. Cyrus was still struggling to get the shard off of his mouth, rolling around with muffled curses and profanities that neither Touya nor Li had ever heard off. "If I may say so, you're quite enjoying yourself."

"How rude of you, Raven." his guardians knew he was feigning hurt innocence. "I'm not entirely evil, you know." Which was true.

Sort of...

Cyrus finally managed to remove the attack shard-cum-pacifier successfully with a pop; "I bet you've been working up on that comment about Tomoyo-chan for quite some time now, aren't you?" he narrowed a _pretty _annoyed glare at Raven. "ANDDON'TYOUEVERDOTHATAGAINYOUNITWIT!" a vein swelled on his head.

"Can you please stop rambling on my face? Your drool's throwing out in all directions and — God Almighty —" Raven narrowed her gaze comically. "— YOUR breath really stinks." she received a death glare.

"It does NOT!"

"Does to!"

"Does NOT!"

"Does to!"

"Does NOT!"

"Does to!"

It goes on for minutes — if Clow was lucky. Hours if he wasn't.

"That's enough now..." he fondly, half-heartedly scolded them.

They didn't listen; followed by more pacifying shards and comments.

Clow decided to chuckle it away and turn his attention towards the group of people below. After his encounter with Eriol-kun he's sure his plans were over the first initial stages already. He had all the intentions of letting them know who's behind the attack. And he wasn't at all lying when he said that he WAS Clow Reed now, wasn't he?

He gently smiled at Tomoyo's sleeping figure; amusement and fondness were evident before he let a smirk take over.

The fun has yet to come...

* * *

Fujitaka-sensei opened the door, looking ruffled than usual with smudges of dusts on his face. Whatever he was working at a few minutes ago, he found it less puzzling than the group of people standing in front of him, looking totally worn out from whatever business they did. He blinked and turned a look at Nadeshiko.

Nadeshiko just smiled at him.

"You look tired, daddy." Sakura reached up and planted a kiss on his cheeks.

_Your father's determined to clean his study._ Nadeshiko reached down and kissed her daughter — although for Sakura, it felt like a brush of warm air in passing.

"All day?" asked Sakura. Nadeshiko beamed her a gentle smile.

"Not exactly." Fujitaka turned his head towards the others, obviously avoiding his daughter's question since the last time he answered it with a yes, her daughter turned a look that was enough to make anybody who knew her capabilities squirm. Personally, even though he was her father, he felt like a worm under close observation by a powerful scientist running an experiment on its crucial stages. "What happened to Tomoyo-san?" he inquired with a puzzled look.

"Long story..." yawned a yellow stuffed animal, flying out of his hiding place to perch on the professor's shoulder. "But I'll let Sakura-chan and the others handle the explaining. Naaa, Fujitaka-senseeeeiiiiii...?" he bared all his teeth. "Are there cakes left?" his grin abruptly diminished, tragically, "It was ooone very looooong and tiring fight and my oooold wounds are still hurting. And my stomach's been complaining all day, saying that it hasn't eaten anything yet!"

Not for the last thirty minutes or less at least, thought Fujitaka, still beaming a sunny smile at Kero. Truthfully, he didn't mind his appetite at all — Yukito-san was even more particular in that field but he still didn't mind — even if he did cause him a heart attack whenever he transforms into a full-grown lion in the living room. But then, he'd gotten used to it too. More often than before, he had been touching up his armored head while Cerberus replied by nudging his palm in such a way that could really make him feel the old connection between himself and his past self's guardian. It's amazing him, really, but maybe not as much as the fact that he's half the reincarnation of a powerful mage; and his other half was now standing right across him, carrying his unconscious niece.

And from the looks of it, Sonomi-kun wouldn't be happy seeing her daughter in that state. He imagined his wife's cousin turning cat-eyed again and he was just thankful she didn't posses magic, else it would probably bring about the earth's end if Sonomi-kun blows up. She was her only child after all.

"I'm sure you are after burning MY tail..." Spinel grumbled, still not getting over the fact that Kero burned his curly-tipped tail, no matter if it's unintentional. He still burned his tail and that was a fact. He grumbled some more.

Fujitaka smiled at Kero-chan. "Of course... I'll get some for everyone." he turned to Spinel, "And milk and cookies for Spinel this time. All of you look worn out."

Nadeshiko smiled cheerfully. _And so do you from your cleaning-up-businesses, Fujitaka-san..._

Fujitaka coughed.

* * *

Settling a petite frame on Sakura's bed was easier than carrying Nakuru's shopping bags whenever they engage on a shopping spree from time to time. Honestly, Eriol found it amusing since Nakuru had always insisted he should carry her bags because he's a boy and he's a girl — though he technically knew that Nakuru was neither male nor female — but then, he would just laugh at it and submit himself to whatever the false form of the moon guardian had in mind. He was enjoying it anyway. Even if he does know the truth about Nakuru, to the eyes of other people, she looked very much female — a flat–chest female.

And speaking of females... his eyes rested upon the unconscious ashen-haired lady.

He found it most heartbreakingly adorable... and unsettling at the same time since he was experiencing something entirely different — something foreign though a sleeping human occurs almost everyday and he often had the pleasure of seeing to it that Sakura-san gets tucked into bed comfortably in the past, but not much now though, since she's already a full-grown woman (let's just say that Li-kun wouldn't like the idea but really, she's his half daughter if anybody would assess the basic facts).

On the way back from the amusement park, he managed to carry Daidouji-san around with ease, shifting her from one position to another to provide her a more comfortable position. Touya and Yukito had offered to carry the lady for him but he refused, claiming she was lighter than a duffle bag stuffed with stones. He pushed a lock of hair away from her face and tucked a strand behind her ears. Truth be told, he was feeling sort of responsible, given the reason that it was, after all, his other self who did something dirty.

"Eriol-kun..." Sakura suddenly spoke, awakening him from his thoughts. "I'm sure Tomoyo-chan's okay for now, you don't have to worry."

Eriol smiled gently, still refusing to take his eyes off Tomoyo without particular reasons. "Why do you say that?"

Sakura flashed a cheerful smile, "Because you were looking at Tomoyo-chan with gentle eyes." That sent his head flying towards Sakura, a little less puzzled but surprised to know that she actually noticed. "And I've never seen you do so to anybody... other than me — or as Tomoyo-chan says you do." She had the grace to look embarrassed, much to Eriol's amusement. "And coughMizuki-senseicough."

Eriol simply smiled. "I'm happy for her, Sakura-san."

"I believe you because you say so..." Sakura truthfully said then shrugged. "But then, you're still sad and lonely. You may have accepted it but you're still feeling sad for the most part; and lonely too even if Nakuru-chan and Spinel-san were around to cheer you up." Eriol blinked. He didn't know Sakura was capable of blasting a hole in his head for thorough reading like Spinel would a book in the span of three hours. And to imagine, she did it within an hour but then again, Sakura-san wasn't ordinary in every way and that's what makes her special. "And I think you don't deserve to be sad at all — no one deserves to be sad at all."

Eriol chuckled, aware of the pleasant paternal feeling that Sakura-san was triggering in him. It wasn't the fact that he had mostly outdone himself in terms of seeing through her growth progress since the day she was born up until today; it was remotely something more. How his heart agreed that he didn't deserve to be sad but he knew he wasn't completely, miserably sad as she had implied he was.

Or was he? There went the voice again.

Eriol took two and two into consideration then decided, he would thoroughly think of it later in the confines of his apartment before his skull began to crack. "That would be something to hear from my cute descendant though..." He tried to lighten up the mood with a joke. "But I think he'd much rather prefer seeing me get hit by a train or a nuclear warhead... or maybe even worse."

Sakura's lips crossed, "Hoe?" She went along but shook her head, "Syaoran-kun may be mean at times but he does care..." She hesitated, "Though he really has a funny way of showing it to other people. Most of all you, Kero-chan and Onii-chan — particularly Onii-chan since I just got them to get along about three months ago." She pouted. "Sort of..."

Yes, he knew about that. He knew of Sakura's determination and sneaky plots — with the help of Daidouji again as he had seen from an enchanted frying pan in the kitchen on several occasions — in the past just to ensure Li-kun and Touya-kun's truce. Dealing with two steel-headed males to agree with one another can cause serious headaches, but she still managed to accomplish it — with some help of course; but for the most part, the boys were overcome by their extreme attachment for Sakura-san.

And everything went right as always...

"But," said Sakura-san, "Do try to remember that everything will turn out to be alright for you too. You will find your happy ending as I have with Syaoran-kun no matter how impossible it may seem." She smiled. "Eriol-kun's been kind and I'm sure, the one that you would come to love best will love you for who you are... forever."

Eriol nodded, still amazed at how Sakura-san could suddenly morph into an all-knowing individual despite of her patented denseness. "And I would try to make her happy too."

Sakura shook her head; honey-colored strands were swinging from side-to-side. "You don't need to try, Eriol-kun..." she blamed her instinct for trying to explain something even she couldn't understand. But for the better part, it was for Eriol-kun. He needed reassurance that everything would be okay in the end. She didn't like the thought of Eriol-kun settling for the fact that he had no happy ending to live for. Eriol-kun had helped her in figuring out exactly how she had felt for Syaoran-kun, and now, it was her turn to do the helping. "You CAN make her happy... when you find your number one... you can make her happy for the rest of your lives together." she took a step forward and clasped his hands with her own. "Do you understand, Eriol-kun?"

He nodded, obediently. "Thank you."

The door to Sakura's room opened, revealing the head of a chocolate-haired lady as she stuck it into the door. "E-RIII-ooool! Sakuraaa-chaaaaaan! Cakes and tea are SEEE-eeerved!" her trilling halted their conversation but at least, Eriol was somehow feeling a bit lighter now. Better than before. It was really good to have company to talk with especially if she's someone who could understand your feelings...well, in a way at least.

It was far different from whenever Spinel was giving him advice, yet similar in a way because he was understood; not criticized.

"Come on, Eriol-kun!" Sakura beamed a smile and received a nod from Eriol.

"Hai, Sakura-san." Eriol turned and tucked in Tomoyo properly, while Sakura went on ahead to follow a bouncing Nakuru, singing an off-key version of a song about cakes and beautiful things. Once more, he glanced at Tomoyo and saw her stir; tresses of violets spilling freely on her face in the process...

He automatically reached to tuck the tresses behind her ear again; and was somehow, suddenly horrified when he had felt the urge to touch her face. He blinked, but then, gave in to the whim with one gentle smile. Perhaps — he caressed her cheek gently — it was just his paternal personality kicking in like, whenever Sakura-san was around.

Eriol considered this for a while.

Yes. That must be it. It was just his paternal personality, he assured himself, giving one final glance at Tomoyo before turning towards the door to join the others. Surely, it must be THAT, since figuratively, he's old enough to be her father.

And a voice argued from the back of his mind that he only had to look at the mirror to confirm it. He batted the thought aside, fully intent on saving it all for later. He really didn't need to constantly reprimand himself for thinking of such things. He was only human. And human instincts involved thinking. He drew a sigh then plastered a smile, forcing himself to confront the voices in the living room, which were all dominated by someone, frantically shouting to Keep Those Cakes Away From Him Or I'll SHOOT You With My Beams.

* * *

_Can you hear me?_

Tomoyo was standing in the middle of nowhere; completely surrounded by darkness as she turned her head around in an attempt to find the owner of the voice. _"Hello?" _she asked, walking calmly with her right hand clutching her chest; trying to suppress the fear that was beginning to bubble up somewhere inside her.

_Search for the light..._

It instructed. Speaking from an unknown place that seemed so close yet so distant.

Tomoyo knew that she was far from being mentally impaired so she couldn't be hearing voices because of that. She was positive that this was all happening in a dream and, well, she should be feeling a bit scared by now. She SHOULD be scared of hearing voices, especially one that was undeniably foreign to her ears. But there was something in its tone that made her feel... safe enough... in an odd way.

_Look for it._

It commanded, softly. She didn't know who it was. But then, Tomoyo was now certain, that the voice was willing her fears away. Willing her to be at ease despite the darkness. It was deliberately willing her to push her fears away because he was there... not to hurt her... but lead her somewhere to safety...

_I'm here..._

He was there to protect her...

_Within the light..._

"Light?" asked Tomoyo, slightly puzzled. She didn't know if she should trust him but considering her current position, she did not have much of a choice. She searched for any indications of light then saw something glitter on the ground, "Light..." she kneeled then picked up the object. It was a ring. The color of the stone almost mingled with darkness — the darkness of the night. Midnight blue. Yet, she could see it was burning deep inside.  
The warmth was reaching for her like it was struggling to break free from its prison. "Should I put it on?" The beauty of its simplicity was simply enthralling, making her caress it gently with thoughtful admiration, though the voice had somehow put her in a place to hesitate in doing what one was supposed to do with a ring...

_You can put it on once you've come to realize and accept..._

"_Realize...? Accept...?" _Tomoyo asked again, puzzled at the seemingly riddled words of the calm and knowing voice as she stared at the ring on her hand. _"I don't... understand..."_

Then, as if to answer her inquiry, the ring flew up and gave a burst of white light right before her eyes...

"_Was it part of your foresight—" The lady turned and smiled ever so slightly at the man before her. "—Clow-sama?"_

It was a vision.

_Clow Reed thoughtfully stared at the marvelous color works of autumn from the inside of his manor. The endless tree-laden landscape of his property's perimeter were showing off varieties of red, brown and gold; mingling with flowers that were now falling together in a merry last dance, flowing with the wind that whistled gently in a quiet melodious rhythm._

"_Ah..." answered one thoughtful mage as he smiled at the sight before him, "autumn has finally come." the lady turned her attention once more to the garden. "Today, they will bloom their last to make way for younger ones in spring."_

_The black-haired lady chuckled lowly in amusement. "Meaning, you cannot bring someone who died back to life again as what you've said for countless and countless of times already." She turned to fully face the mage with a sneer; and much to Tomoyo's surprise, she knew the woman. "And to quote your words, even if you were reincarnated, it's no longer you..." she frowned. "Though I can read you thoroughly... Must you always speak in riddles, Clow?"_

It was Raven. And the voice that urged her to find the light earlier belonged to Clow Reed.

_Clow gave her his normally frustrating knowing smile. "I wasn't called to answer that."_

_Raven snorted. "See what I mean?" she narrowed her gaze at the smiling mage and sighed. "You always WERE not called to answer anything. How's someone like me supposed to know anything anyway?"_

_Within a snap of the fingers, Raven and himself were transported in the middle of the garden. _

_Flowers after flowers were falling down the ground and Raven was left to admire it — she was left to admire _everything_. She raised her left hand to catch one of the falling flowers. "Plum blossoms..." she whispered, letting one thoughtful smile graze her lips. "You know... this is my favorite flower, Clow." she raised one interrogating eyebrow. "And I have a sinking feeling you've got something to do with it. As my creator, why, of all flowers, these?"_

_Clow upturned another mysterious smile. "Then as my creation, why, of all flowers, do you like those?"_

_His answer — or question — made Raven frown. "You're answering my question with a question and to top it off, you're answering my question with my OWN question." her frown deepened. "You're really annoying, you know."_

_Her creator simply smiled; she didn't know whether he was really trying to annoy her or he was just amused at her display of boldness. So, deciding on giving up, she sighed once again and rolled her eyeballs. "You created me, Clow. And you know very well that I am unlike your other creations in terms of temper." she seriously looked at him straight in the eyes. "Like Yue and Cerberus, I get irritated and no one is exempted." She glared at Clow's obnoxious smiling face. "And I mean, NO ONE. The difference between me and them is I include YOU in my list, though you are my master and you know well that I wouldn't scratch a hair on you."_

Tomoyo was halfway to admiring her audacity.

"_I see." Clow nodded cheerfully, "It's your way of saying that you care for me."_

_Raven made a face. "Don't push it."_

"_The one to decide for what you like best is yourself. I have nothing to do with it." Clow turned to face Raven and nodded at the flower on her palm. "Now... can you tell my why is it your favorite flower?"_

_Raven brought her gloved hand closer to her face to inspect the flower closely. "It is because I realized something." she smiled; enlightenment was lighting up her pretty features, "When one says favorite, often times, they like it because of its physical properties: its appearance, smell, uses and other things that can be observed by the naked eye — by the ordinary senses we use everyday..." _

_The mage's facial expression didn't change one bit but he was really happy about Raven's wise deductions. Indeed, he created her as planned: smart, witty, wise, stubborn, dry-humored, sarcastic but loyal and loving in a funny sort of a way. "And it's not your favorite because of its physical properties?"_

_He saw her nod._

"_It's not just my favorite because it's beautiful and its fruits are edible..." she grimaced. "Sourly edible..." she hesitated, "... it's my favorite because..." Raven's normally piercing green-gray eyes gentled at the sight of the flower, still innocently sprawled on her left palm. "Because I feel a very strong connection with it..."_

_The mage smiled. "What connection?"_

"_Something that I can't explain. Something deeper because I know it's not just my favorite because it's nice and beautiful..." she looked up to meet Clow Reed's eyes, "It's my favorite because somehow, it feels like it is part of my existence — a purpose yet to come."_

_Clow nodded and patted Raven's head in fatherly fashion. "What if I tell you that it IS part of your existence and your purpose has yet to come?"_

_Raven stared at Clow, puzzled yet unsurprised._

"_Cyrus would awaken soon and when I'm gone, I want you to help '_me' _after _'my' _wish has finally been fulfilled." He sighed, looking as if he was carrying the world on his shoulders as a very, very heavy load of burden._

_Raven suddenly looked skeptical. "Okay, who are you and what did you do to Clow Reed?" Clow smiled amusedly at her antics. "Clow would never tell his plans to anyone."_

_Clow's smile widened. "In every rule, there is an exemption."_

_Raven frowned. "Why?"_

_Clow Reed turned the same mysterious smile again, "Because I want something... and the two of you would be of most help."_

"_Why not your daughter-in-the-next-life then?" Raven asked once more._

_He chuckled fondly. "Sakura-san was considered but things were too... complicated..." Clow turned and looked up at the plum blossom tree. "Even with power, it would be hard for her to do and understand — to some extent — why _"I"_ have to do this... but in the end..." Clow turned his head once more, officially surprising Tomoyo, as he somehow met her gaze. "Everything will be okay."_

Those were his last words before the vision faded; leaving a trace of Clow Reed's gentle eyes, upon her own, etched on her mind, even after reality had welcomed her back with open arms: in the confines of a room that she recognized as Sakura-chan's room...

Tomoyo sat up quickly, feeling her heart pounding against her ribs as Clow Reed's voice reverberated through her brain.

_Everything will be okay._

Okay for whom? She found herself asking and once again, she was consumed deeply in her thoughts, trying to recall the incidents in her dream...

"KEEP AWAAAAAAAY!"

That was, until the door noisily opened with a slam and something black zoomed in to flump on her sheet-covered lap.

It was Spinel Sun.

"Keep away!" He hiccupped. "Keep Cerberus away from my candy and chocolates!" Hic, hic. "No one will eat these. It's all mine! MINE I tell you! It's MIIIIINNNEEEE!" Tomoyo half expected him to dramatically cackle, diabolically, similar to those she saw in the movies after an EVIL plan had been laid out for the protagonist.

It was an apparently, very drunk Spinel Sun with flushed cheeks and a bag of chocolates that she recognized as the one Hiiragizawa-kun won from the amusement park earlier.

Tomoyo blinked then looked up at the door.

"Aw!" Nakuru pouted and stared at the drunken plush toy in Tomoyo's lap. "Look at what you've done, Suppi! You woke. HER. UP. YOU woke up Sleeping Beauty!" she rested her hands on her hips, looking severely authoritative as if she didn't do anything wrong. "And you're NOT. EVEN. The Prince's HORSE!" she looked annoyed.

Tomoyo felt like gagging on her own spittle. "Really Akizuki-san..." she smiled sheepishly. "I'm far from the league of Princess Aurora in any case."

Nakuru grinned and bounced closer to Tomoyo. "Oooh... but I think you're MORE than fit to be Sleeping Beauty! And nooooooow... it'll only take a matter of time before your handsome Prince Charming would gallop in on his horse! Like this—!" She galloped around. Tomoyo sweat dropped. "Then he would save you from EEEEEVVIIIIIIILLL..." She cackled diabolically. Tomoyo sweat dropped some more. "And theeEEEEeeeen..." She paused dramatically; "He'll give you a kiss!" she winked. Tomoyo went a shade redder. If it was so, then that would be her first real kiss. She went two to three shades redder much to Nakuru's delight. "And I demand you to call me Nakuru-chan!"

Tomoyo blinked, and felt like a pair of test tube tongs was seizing her by the neck in apprehension. "Hai, Aki—Nakuru-san...I mean... Nakuru-chan."

Nakuru grinned, happily.

"Cerberus may take them away... keep him away from me... keep him away from my chocolaaaaates..." whined Spinel, in between hiccups and sleepy nodding.

Tomoyo blinked again and stared at Spinel and then turned towards Nakuru who simply raised her hands up and started a count down with an impish grin... to put it mildly at least, since it was totally an inch or less close to being considered maniacal. "Ten... nine... eight..."

Tomoyo stared at Spinel. "Kero-chan's downstairs... he wouldn't take your sweets away."

"Seven... six... five... four..."

Spinel looked up at Tomoyo trustingly. "Promise?"

"Three..."

Tomoyo nodded cheerfully and cradled Spinel in her arms, gently petting his head with a smile. "I promise..."

"Two... One..."

Spinel dozed off, peacefully; the bag of untouched chocolates lay forgotten on the bed.

Tomoyo stared at Spinel and then up to a grinning Nakuru. "Is this..." he looked down at Spinel again and blinked. "Something that happens normally?"

"If you try to feed Suppi-chan with sweets everyday then it's a daily normal occurrence!" she uttered happily; the grin on her face widening.

Tomoyo sweat dropped, feeling sorry for the poor little critter.

* * *

After carefully tucking Spinel Sun on Sakura-chan's bed, Nakuru didn't waste a second to engage her in a bone-crushing hug once more. "I forgot to great you goooood evening, Tomoyo-chaaaan!" she trilled, wringing Tomoyo's hand next after the hug. "Are you feeling alright now?"

Tomoyo nodded. "I wasn't really hurt. I just suddenly—" she furrowed her brows. "—Blacked out." Her statement made Nakuru stare at her worriedly, which was unusually creeping her out since it was exceedingly far from the Nakuru she had come to know.

"You can't remember anything?" inquired the false form of the moon guardian, creeping Tomoyo all the more from the face she was making.

Tomoyo shook her head. "A-After I talked with Clow Reed in the amusement park, I couldn't remember anything else."

"So they introduced their selves to you!" gasped Nakuru in all due drama and then fired up like a bursting gun. "What did they tell you? What did they ask? What did they do? Why did you scream? Did they hurt you?" Nakuru's eyes were wide as saucers, trying to fish out information from the victim — as she said Tomoyo was — with her face barely five inches away from Tomoyo's.

"Na...Nakuru-chan..." Tomoyo sweat dropped, smiling sheepishly at her merciless interrogator.

* * *

It was a good thing that Yukito-san and Fujitaka-sensei went up to check on what was happening upstairs after Nakuru-chan bombarded her with questions. It was as if she was free from any bombardment of questions downstairs, since by the time she set foot upon the last flight of stairs that led towards the living room, Li-kun mostly attacked her with questions, matched by a pair of dangerous and annoyed glaring eyes all rolled into one. He obviously didn't like the idea of his ancestor bringing danger again and this time, he couldn't blame Hiiragizawa for it.

And that was added to Li-kun's List of Things He Didn't Like.

Sakura-chan and Hiiragizawa-kun pretty much wanted to do the same thing but decided on a more mellow approach. At least they were a bit sensitive than the others were, she thought, smiling up at her best friend's worried face. "I screamed because I almost slipped on the Clock Tower. It was a good thing that he had a firm grip on my hand."

Everyone hit the ground save for Tomoyo.

"Are you sure?" Li-kun was skeptical, along with Touya-niichan who was basically skewering the air where he imagined the beings' obnoxious faces smiling down at him, even if he haven't seen them yet. Now she knew how it felt like to be surrounded by overprotective males — it was similar to hiring dragons as your bodyguards, considering the fact that one of them, actually, could yield flame from a piece of paper and one could dart poison by a simple glare (though not literally, it could still make anyone cower off in fear). And on several occasions, Yukito-san or Yue-san had proclaimed the same thing especially when Yue-san almost killed one of Tomoyo-chan's perverted suitors after Yukito — just in passing — saw something that neither him nor his true form liked one bit. The guy ended up in the hospital for a week and was never seen nor heard from ever again.

Tomoyo nodded, gravely touched by their obvious concern. "Yes, Li-kun." she suddenly burrowed her brows down in thought. "But I did have this dream..."

Everyone suddenly looked curious.

"It's about Clow Reed," continued Tomoyo. "And I guess it must have occurred in the past."

Now, everyone was even _more _curious.

And if the phone didn't ring then the mood wouldn't have been destroyed. Sakura and Touya made a motion to get it but Fujitaka smiled at them understandingly. "Don't worry. I'll get the phone." He left with Nadeshiko towards the kitchen. Everyone was left back to his or her normal, unusually quiet state.

"What was it about, Daidouji-san?" it was Eriol's turn to ask, sounding as if he was talking to a seven-year-old girl. If it's about the past then, he's sure he would be able to recall it since he was the one with Clow Reed's memories. He inwardly frowned. Or perhaps, not entirely as it seems... He trailed over towards Fujitaka and Nadeshiko, floating closely beside him, as he held the phone over his ear, hearing something about Christmas, talk and other stuff that was probably connected with his work in the university. Then, he fully disappeared in the kitchen.

"I..." Tomoyo stared at the floor for a while and then looked up at everyone. "I forgot..."

Everyone fell from his or her seat, save for Tomoyo again, bearing the look of an innocent hyena.

"You're just like Sakura-chan..." Kero clicked his tongue disapprovingly then popped another chocolate in his mouth. "Alwaysh fhorgetshing imfortchshant shtuff that comsh in her dreamsh." He swallowed. "The fine line is that, Sakura still oversleeps even though she's already twenty-five and Tomoyo-chan retained her usual punctuality..."

Sakura glared at Kero-chan. Kero-chan laughed nervously then stuffed another chocolate in his mouth.

"But at least you remembered that it's about Clow Reed." Yukito began, earning a few approving nods from Eriol, Sakura, Kero-chan and Nakuru. "How did you remember it was about him?"

"His last words sort of echoed through my brain." she answered, feeling a bit silly. "He told me that everything will be okay." It almost came out as a whisper but audible enough for everyone to hear. All eyes turned towards Sakura-chan and then back to Tomoyo; and then back to Sakura-chan again.

"Maybe it's Clow Reed's way of assuring Daidouji that everything will be just fine..." It was more like a question than a statement from Li-kun. "What do you think, Hiiragizawa?" asked Li.

Eriol nodded. "Perhaps." He sighed, suddenly looking burdened from the events that had been happening. "That is, if he intends to reveal his purpose." And until then, he had to keep watch over Daidouji-san and the others too. He couldn't let anything like that happen again, especially now that the so-called other Clow Reed made it clear, upon Touya's disappearance throughout the whole incident, that their target was really Tomoyo.

But then again, he looked up as the others engaged themselves in a much lighter conversation, one can never be too careful around someone as powerful as Clow Reed is — half a power or not, they can never be too careful.

He should know best. After all, he was once a part of Clow Reed too.

Fujitaka-sensei came back from the kitchen. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I missed?" He smiled, more or less, cheerfully with Nadeshiko giggling like she found something totally and cryptically amusing for her taste. Eriol thought, it was probably because of everyone's funny look directed towards Fujitaka and his other half was somehow looking a bit startled from their sudden switch of conversation. He saw Fujitaka shrug. "I guess I pretty much missed a lot now, did I?" He turned to Eriol and smiled.

"Nothing much, really," answered Eriol, looking exactly like Fujitaka — especially with that boyish smile plastered firmly on his face. "Was the call from the university?"

Fujitaka smiled brightly. "I was just about to ask you something about relics..."

The sound of a very amused chuckle echoed quietly through a particular dimmed room. He was observing Sakura's group conversation from somewhere with a small, amused smile...

"Of course, Eriol-kun," he said. His voice was basically dripping with vileness and more plots set ahead for everyone in his mental chess game. "Why wouldn't I reveal my purpose to everyone?" Clow stopped and smirked. "But not just now. No, not yet." the smirk intensified.

"It wouldn't be fun at all if everyone discovers it ahead of time now, would it?"

* * *

"Did you have fun?" Sonomi stuck her head on the door of her daughter's room. She was wearing a somewhat normal smile but for someone who knew her for twenty-five years, the gleam on her teeth and the look on her face suggested, well, something else to put it mildly. Way TOO mildly.

"Yes mother." Oh yes. She did. That is if you consider getting attacked by two guardians, who were basically after your neck, as fun. But it wasn't entirely a lie since she did have fun spending the night out with Sakura-chan and the others. Tomoyo smiled at her mother, more or less, the same ready smile and continued brushing her long hair.

Sonomi nodded approvingly and stepped inside her room. "I'm going to Paris later for a business trip."

Tomoyo stopped midway and blinked at her mother. "Surprise trips, huh?"

Sonomi made a face and sighed in defeat. "Believe me, baby... I'd rather stay here and work my head off than to spend most of my time traveling towards one place to another." she turned cat-eyed, seemingly seeing the faces of her business associates — which she oh-so wanted to wipe out from the face of the earth by any means possible — in thin air. "Argh! What a nuisance!" She was waving and punching her fists high up in the air.

Her daughter was already quite used to the sight of her mother, looking exactly like a cat swatting the air for insects quite irritably, to even boggle. "What time then?" Tomoyo chuckled.

Sonomi hesitated. "The private jet leaves at about one in the morning so I have to be there at about ten or eleven."

Tomoyo smiled sweetly at her mother then nodded. "I can handle it okaa-san. Don't worry."

Sonomi hesitated even more. "That's what I'm worried about, baby." She sighed heavily and planted a kiss on her daughter's head. "You always work too much — even worse than I do, Tomoyo-chan." her smile depicted utmost concern and worry — typical of a mother. "Even Sakura-chan and the others are beginning to worry."

Worse than her mother? Tomoyo blinked up at Sonomi from the mirror that was reflecting them. Since when?

"Is there something bothering you?" Sonomi took the brush from her daughter's hand and did the job for her. She loved her hair. It was partly because it reminded her of Nadeshiko-chan but as it being owned by her daughter, who succumbed to her simple wish of growing it for her, fueled the feeling all the more. What parent wouldn't love someone from her own flesh anyway? She was the only family she has— other than her grandfather and to some extent, the Kinomoto's, though she'd lash her tongue out first before she admits it to Fujitaka-sensei — and she would gladly shoot anyone who even dare lay a finger on her baby. Her ONLY baby. Even if she's already twenty-five years old, Tomoyo was STILL her baby.

"I'm fine okaa-san... really." Tomoyo smiled, truthfully... or, at least, she was convincing her own self that it was the truth. As she had been putting her mind into it lately, something was indeed bothering her for a long time but due to her stubbornness it only surfaced about a week ago. Her dilemma had been eating her from the insides and to make things worse, it was beginning to affect her working performance.

Sonomi looked unconvinced but let it go for the mean time. She knew perfectly well that Tomoyo would tell her when she's ready to talk about it. "If you say so, baby." It was her way of saying I-don't-believe-you-one-bit-because-I'm-your-mother and Tomoyo got the message instantly. She smiled in turn. Sonomi made a face for a brief second and then smiled sweetly. "Just remember that your mother's here when you need someone to talk to, okay?"

"Yes okaa-san." Tomoyo smiled up at her mother and gave her one affectionate hug.

"Oh, look at the time." A cat-eyed Sonomi and a dot-eyed Tomoyo stared at the clock. "I need to go, baby. I'll see you in about a week-" she grimaced. "If I'm lucky."

Tomoyo smiled understandingly. "And if you're not?"

Sonomi made a worse face. "I don't want to think about it..." Then, she pulled a very authoritative look from nowhere and raised one perfectly curved eyebrow. "But I'll make sure, it won't go for over a month." She pecked her daughter's cheek and patted her gently on the head. "I'll make it before Christmas even if I have to SHOOT my associates. ALL of them."

Tomoyo chuckled. "See you then, okaa-san."

When Sonomi closed the door to her room, Tomoyo heaved a sigh and placed the brush down on her drawer.

Two weeks more before Christmas; and when one says Christmas for someone who's managing a toy company, it would be like dragging Santa Claus in a frantic frenzy after oversleeping for an extra one month and finding himself in a fixed deadline of about two weeks to make toys for all the good children across the globe — which were, roughly, billions in number. She sighed again. Daidouji Company supplies the majority of the toy stores all over the world so the difference must be a foot off if not the same.

And not for the first time, she could feel her skull cracking.

Tomoyo fought the urge to groan in irritation and stood up from the stool she had been sitting on. She was already in her night robes and going out for a stroll to clear her head would make it seem inappropriate for her taste. On the other hand — she turned her head towards her bed — sleeping early would do her good after a tiring day. She was feeling unusually wound up from the events that had occurred earlier so perhaps one early rest would give her a fresh start tomorrow — especially now that her mother was going out to Paris for the week, meaning work, work, work for her all day, beginning tomorrow.

She shook her head and pulled the sheets off her bed, ready to retire for the day against her fluffy pillows and—

Stuffed animal?

Tomoyo stared at the innocent-looking panda bear on her bed and then blinked.

Who in the world had put _that_ in there?

She sat, cross-legged, in the middle of her king-sized bed and curiously picked up the panda for closer inspection — a note fell in the process.

_I was meaning to give it to you earlier but due to certain circumstances, I didn't find the appropriate time.  
This was the only medium that I could think of. I'm begging your pardon for any offense made._

_Hiiragizawa_

_PS. If I got the right one, please smile for me._

Tomoyo blinked at the note again and stared at the panda. And then, turned to the note again and then to the panda. When the words finally sunk in properly, she smiled slightly and then groaned in frustration.

She could only make out one meaning in the note: Hiiragizawa noticed her troubles too — like her mother did.

But really — she pulled the topmost drawer on her bedside table and tucked the note properly in a box — it was thoughtful of Hiiragizawa to give her the panda. He must've noticed her looking in the direction of the shooting alley and detected her flow of mind by reading something — she didn't know what but he managed to read it somehow. He always did. Since fifth grade, Hiiragizawa was really the only one who ever managed to see right through her and vice versa in a way or another.

And she didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing.

Having someone who knew her dilemma about Sakura-chan was somehow a bit perplexing especially now that she had discovered something else about her emotions. The emptiness she felt had somehow surfaced; making her doubt the completeness of the love she felt for Sakura-chan. The mantra she kept on repeating to herself — the happiness of her loved one as her own — had somehow placed her into... well... confusion didn't seem to suit it. But it would do for now.

She stared at the panda thoughtfully then caressed its white fur. "What do you think, little guy?" she asked, half expecting the panda to utter a sort of reply. It took her seconds before she finally felt silly. She chuckled.

For a large part of her life, she only knew two stuffed animals that could actually talk: one was a yellow bear and the other was a wise black cat — wise when not stuffed with sweets, that is.

Her brows burrowed when something struck her. She wondered if the tiger she met earlier had a false form too, given the thought that Clow made them as well.

Tomoyo stopped and burrowed her brows even more.

Come to think of it, they may _have _false forms and one of them — just like Yukito-san — may not have inkling about it.

Then, another thought struck her. It struck her hard; she even thought her brain would squeeze out of its juices at the inexplicable... inexplicable. That was the only word for it. Tomoyo had been wondering why a certain secretary suddenly punctured a hole in her messy head as if she was fully intent on driving her wacko. Now she knew why she instantly remembered seeing her somewhere else before... other than the office for four years...

How could she miss it?

Shinokawa Akiyo had an uncanny resemblance with Raven.

Tomoyo contemplated for a while as she stared at the panda. It would probably do her deductions some good if she were to take one good look at Akiyo-chan then ask Yukito-san questions later... and even Nakuru-chan too. But for the mean time, caution should be observed. Questions after questions went colliding in her brain and instantly, she knew how a canned sardine felt like to be run over by a thousand-ton wrecker. When she figured she could no longer answer a single letter, Tomoyo dropped on her bed and held the panda high up in the air. She stared at it for a brief second, then spoke, "Here's your smile, Hiiragizawa..." She even surprised herself at how real her smile went. "I didn't like the way you kept on looking at me with that gentle look but... I guess..." her true, genuine smile softened, "Everybody would need it in some point of their lives..."

She switched her lights off and went to sleep, cuddling the panda closer for company. "Goodnight... Eriol-kun."

Unaware that the giver of said plush toy was observing her from a window's glass panel in his apartment...

"You always were a keen observer." Eriol's smile was inexplicably gentle, "Good night... Tomoyo-san..."

And somehow, Eriol felt that he would sleep nicely tonight.

* * *

Tsuzuku...

Your reviews keep me from dumping this fic in ze trash bin... (smiles smugly) XD So Review!

I'm really sorry for keeping your hopes up! (Bows) I already mentioned that it'd take time before I post up the next (REAL) chapter. The muses aren't smiling DOWN on me right now so I'm having twouble. And I've been receiving messages that my chapters are really looooong and I don't want my readers to suffer from headache... ahahaha... so... there, I separated the first chapter into two. Do me justice please! I can't break the second part of winter season so... eheh. XD Forgive me!

a. If you had the impression of Tomoyo-chan being somebody's reincarnation from Clow's timeline, I'm sorry to disappoint you but it's not. XO VERY different. In what way, you ask? Let's just say that she's not somebody's reincarnation. XD Just wait. Ahaha... I'm bad. I know. But I wonder if someone out there could form correct ideas about this fiction. Give it a shot and tell me by reviewing! This fiction was designed to be read as a whole but then... let's just wait okay? I want to hear your opinions and deductions so review!

b. The Winter Season is going bye-bye now! Ahahahaha! But not the fiction though! Not quite!

c. Character developments are on the way and I bet you weren't expecting a last minute ET moment in the end... (Gushing) me neither! (Ahahahaha...)

d. The next season would take some time before I post it up! My professors made sure of that... eheh... XD


	5. Spring Season Part One

**SEASON OF SPRING  
**Part One  
By: Lau-kun

**Disclaimer: **A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a murder of ravens will feast on your body... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Yeah... that's putting it mildly for someone with a dirty, little twisted brain box... XD)

-- Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones.

**Thanks to those who reviewed this fiction!** Hah! Told ya you'd all make my day! And toVampirePeaches and Ari for beta reading this fic! I love you so much! You guys are apair ofprecious, precious jewels! Actually, you ALL are!

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**Spring **

Renewal of Life, Hope and Feelings

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This was one of the many occurrences in the Kinomoto Residence ever since the winter festival incident rattled the little world of Tomoeda District...

"HIIRAGIZAWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screeched a voice that was obviously ready to pull out a deadly bolo from somewhere then commit a chopping, gory homicide. Flames were flickering in Li's eyes, and no one would even wonder if he somehow managed to set the Kinomoto residence on fire, as he was being restrained by Fujitaka, Sakura and Yukito from cutting Hiiragizawa's oxygen supply by any torturing, _painful _means possible.

"Calm down..." said Fujitaka, soothingly, looking like someone had stuffed him a mouthful of sour, raw plum.

Li-kun took two, deep breaths, "Calm down?" he inhaled, sharply. "Calm. DOWN?" his tone radiated an air of disbelief, resentment and annoyance towards Hiiragizawa's obnoxious smiling face. Oh, how he yearned to break the cartilage bone of his nose and cut every capillaries in his neck. One. By. One. "How can YOU calm down when that... THAT FREAK..." he snarled. "Relentlessly PLACED a... a..." he turned scarlet then shook his head to valiantly clear the thought away. Hiiragizawa was forcing a snigger out of his chest. "A... THING..." he managed, and burned even more scarlet, "in MY shopping bag?"

Yukito was preparing to transform in case the need for a barrier pops up.

Touya and Kero were amusedly looking over the on-going event, but the former was half-glaring at Hiiragizawa for gracing them again with his augustly _loathsome _presence. The latter, however, was just throwing in a snicker or two after imagining the other Clow reincarnate with a black eye. Not only that, he was already wondering what he would look like after being forced in a full body cast or perhaps, tie him with ribbons and ruffles, arrange his hair on a pigtail, force him to wear the THING that he sneaked in Li's shopping bag — out of his pants — then drag him out on a parade. Before he could even finish, Kero was already rolling around in mid-air with a healthy fit of giggles.

"It was just a joke..." shrugged Hiiragizawa, looking exactly like a wittle wost boy in the middle of an awgument that he started, gleefully. "And it's a woman's underwear, Li-kun."

Li fought the urge to imitate a ripe tomato.

"Don't worry Li-kun..." Tomoyo stared at an innocent-looking Hiiragizawa, severely. "I'm sure he wouldn't do it next time with a reason bent on 'It was just a joke' because he might experience something utterly different then hear an 'it was just a joke' too..." she bared a lot of her teeth. "Would you, Hiiragizawa-kun?"

"Daidouji-san," said Hiiragizawa, contriving to look hurt, "I'm utterly wounded by your cruel lack of trust."

No one believed him. But Sakura was nice enough to force a funny look that valiantly stood as a smile.

"And as cruel as it goes," Tomoyo cooed, "we're going to have a little TALK. Later. Ne?" she smiled sweetly — in a diabetic kind of way, "Hiiragizawa-kun?"

She swore she saw Touya, Kero and Li cringe. Fujitaka and Yukito prudently inched back a step. While Sakura was oozing happiness at what she was hearing.

"Tomoyo-chan," said Sakura, fighting the urge to clap her hands in delight and use the couch as a trampoline for a bouncy boost, "does that mean you're going with us next time?"

Tomoyo smiled gently at Sakura, "If that's what it takes to pacify him... of course, Sakura-chan." She turned another dangerously severe look at Hiiragizawa, "I want to know if Hiiragizawa and I _understood_ each other so give me a call when you're going, okay?" she said, "and as for you..."

Hiiragizawa looked like a student who was half-determined to wiggle himself out of a week's detention with a pretty teacher.

And ever since he re-appeared in Tomoeda, life had never been the same again.

Needless to say, he had broadcasted — though not verbally — that he intended to get Li-kun acquainted with steam engines and how it blows up when too much pressure was forced (Spinel translated it to how Li might figure out a thousand ways to torture his almighty master after fanning the flames of passionate hatred in Li-kun too well). Everybody knew it was deliberate. But what a certain lady didn't understand was why was Hiiragizawa paying too much attention to HER?

Oh, of course she had thought countless of times that it was just her imagination — heck, she was even convincing herself _desperately _it was just her imagination playing tricks on her — but as time went on, she realized it was different. Different, _different _in every aspect. It was so different; she even junked any attempts of convincing herself that it. Was. Just. Her. Imagination.

And the thought of actually finding whimsical gifts, that reminded her of Spinel's false form, Nakuru's accessories and various Eriolish things, tucked under the mountains of paper works, didn't help a trifle.

Plus, Hiiragizawa was never the kind to be bossed around, with exemptions of a sucrose-intolerant plushie and a genderless-er-female. But she really couldn't fathom the reason why was Eriol Hiiragizawa, reincarnate of Clow Reed, the former most powerful magician in the whole world, letting Tomoyo Daidouji, a simple woman who was as magical as an average mop thrown in an abandoned alleyway, tell him what he should and should not do?

In other words, why was HE letting HER boss him around?

His smirk was letting out an aura of I'm Just Being A Smart Ass So Prepare For Payback Day Daidouji-san. But his gentle eyes were speaking ahead of him in volumes. Large, colossal, HUMONGOUS volumes. Tomoyo thought that if he had expected her to believe that lousy smirk, he had another thing coming. But then, she also wished he couldn't see the gentle look in his eyes because she knew deep inside SHE had another thing coming. And this was the one time she had wished for Sakura-chan's denseness. She pleaded to kami-sama that it would gob smack her straight on the face one day, with anything HARD and SOLID until her nose bled.

And that was how Hiiragizawa had been affecting her for the past months of his stay.

And another fact to be added was the way he was making her feel. She didn't know what it was. And Daidouji Tomoyo didn't like feeling something she didn't know or understand...

* * *

It was one bright and cheery Monday morning of spring when Tomoyo found herself standing in the middle of the room. Since the weather was fine and the air smelled of fresh scents of various flowers courtesy of the Daidouji Manor's Garden of Eden, she decided that it was best to give the week a start by starting it early. After pampering herself in a lavish bubble bath, placing in different flowery scents of lavender oil and things as she usually does (unknowing also that it really had a detrimental effect upon most of the male population of her company, or even her classmates back when she was still studying), Tomoyo decided on suiting herself up with a white button up, three-fourths cut polo, a black knee-length skirt, strapped sandals and various simple accessories to tidy her get-up. She nodded at her reflection, walked towards the door and opened it, only to meet her mother's frowning and cat-eyed face. 

Tomoyo blinked. Then her mother burst out like an automated gun that went haywire.

So, it was one bright and cheery Monday morning of spring — a month later after the female undies incident — when Tomoyo Daidouji found herself engaged in a verbal war against her mother. It wasn't really a Let's Shout Until We Drive Each Other Crazy kind of argument. Tomoyo was certainly determined to charm her way out — pouting like an elementary girl, giving her mother a pair of puppy eyes—while her mother... well, let's just say that she WAS trying her best not to stomp her feet around and rope her daughter to the bed post to make Tomoyo-chan agree that It Was Not Wise to go to work especially now that she has—

A sneezing sound reverberated through the room.

Daidouji Sonomi gave her daughter one scrutinizing, authoritative look that bid her ill if she doesn't listen.

"But Okaa-san," Tomoyo half-whined and pouted, "I still have to do—"

"—the papers had already been taken care of." finished Sonomi.

Tomoyo blinked, "And then I—"

"—I sent somebody else to attend the board meeting in Cologne." pushed Sonomi.

"But then there's—"

"—I told my secretary to bring them over."

She blinked at the mention of a particular somebody, "Akiyo-chan?" she somewhat recovered then shrugged, "But then—"

"—It's done—"

"—And—"

"—Other employees."

And with that, she concluded for the millionth time that her freedom of speech had been severely violated. First and foremost, by Sakura-chan and THEN by her mother. It wouldn't be too much of a big deal if it was a different person but SHE was her MOTHER. Her OWN mother. The one who gave birth to her, and the one who should be teaching her that the law shouldn't be violated, honey. Tomoyo stuck out her lower lip even more.

Sonomi smiled smugly then worriedly burrowed her brows, "Tomoyo, your temperature is over thirty-eight degrees and according to the Daidouji Company's Book of Working Ethics, anybody who's suffering from fever should take. LEAVE."

"That would apply..." She mumbled. "If we HAD one."

Her mother grinned like a seven-year-old girl, caught in the act of stealing cookies from the cupboard. "I already asked your secretary to translate it in all the languages she knew then had it published." Her grin widened. "Just now."

Tomoyo resorted to her lost puppy look.

"Oh no, you don't." Sonomi balled her eyes around then affectionately pinched her daughter's nose. "That won't work on me especially now that you're burning with fever. Get some rest!"

And somewhere along the line of "burning with fever", Tomoyo suddenly realized how tired she really was but valiantly stood her ground. There was no way in hell was she giving in to some high-temperature infection-indicating type of biological defense mechanism. "Really okaa-san..." she _tried _to sound lively, but miserably failed, judging from the disapproving look on her mother's concerned face, "I'm really—"

She blacked out.

* * *

Not to be stating something out of exaggeration but Sonomi, after setting her daughter properly in bed, took over like a bustling, yapping and completely AGITATED mother hen. She was unmindfully barking out orders and nearly snapping off the head of the nearest house staff, and it didn't give her pleasure when she realized Tomoyo's temperature had somehow shot up from thirty-eight to forty degrees. This was the first time her daughter had ever experienced this kind of fever. Tomoyo had been sick in the past, of course, but this — THIS was the first time it reached a fearsome bloody distance. 

Medical attention from a physician had been called then she was advised to keep Tomoyo in bed for several days — weeks if necessary. And she shouldn't be allowed to work too much, under all circumstances, even if her fever had somehow lowered. She frowned as she took Tomoyo's temperature again.

Well, to bloody hell it would.

Sonomi scowled threateningly at the digital thermometer. It read 41 degrees. It _went _a bloody degree higher.

"Should I ask someone to prepare the car now, Daidouji-sama?" asked an immensely worried bodyguard, "Or an ambulance?"

"Not until tomorrow... if she doesn't show any signs of improvement as the doctor advised." Sonomi shot her a questioning look. "Where's Akiyo-san?"

"The company's associates in Cologne were giving her a hard time explaining why the meeting was canceled." She lowered her head apologetically, "Shinokawa-san asks for your forgiveness—"

Sonomi went cat-eyed. Beads of sweat trailed down the bodyguard's head. She was actually half ready to duck-and-cover for anything hard and solid that might be flying over in an attempt to hit the imaginary faces of her boss' associates. And lucky her if it's somewhere far from where she was standing. "Ugh... those idiots. Can't they understand the words 'medical' and 'emergency' when they hear it?" another sweat drop rolled on the bodyguard's head as she witnessed her boss, swatting imaginary flies with her fists. Relief only came when Sonomi somehow calmed down with a heavy sigh. "Tell Akiyo-san it's alright." She paused at a thought, "Did you bring the papers then?"

The bodyguard nodded, "We placed it in your office, Daidouji-sama. But Shinokawa-san told us there are a few left in the office."

Her boss arced one perfectly curved eyebrow, "Why'd she do that?"

"She said it wasn't really that important so she'll bring it herself if she could make it. If not, she and Westmore-san volunteered to do it tomorrow for some help too."

Sonomi considered this for a while, then spoke, "Do they know what happened to Tomoyo?"

The bodyguard shook her head. "Iie, Daidouji-sama."

Sonomi smiled amusedly, "I could only guess what their reaction would be if they find out." Then she sighed, looking immensely burdened at the thought of coping up with this kind of problem. Tomoyo wasn't really the gist of the problem, she told herself truthfully, but her fever was entirely the matter that she wanted to choke, gag and strangle if it would only reveal its neck.

"If it wouldn't be so rude to say so, Daidouji-sama," Ms. Bodyguard smiled, "I think they're worse than a pack of adult wolves, determined to protect their young ones, especially when it concerns Ojou-sama... Only, in a more polite way."

Sonomi chuckled, not doubting a single word. "Wolves would be an understatement if you ask me." She shook her head and scooped Tomoyo's warm hands in hers then smiled worryingly, "Tomoyo-chan..."

* * *

"She's not in her office?" Eriol looked up from his book to see an oddly distressed-looking Nakuru looming on the doorway. Her eyes were fixated on her fiddling hands as if it were the most interesting thing in the world since the discovery of Spinel's reaction to sweets. "Did she leave for Germany already? I wanted to talk to her before she did..." 

Nakuru shook her head, "The flight was canceled."

Eriol straightened himself and waited for further explanations. "Did you ask her secretary then?"

"Shinokawa-chan — President Daidouji's secretary — informed me that Louise-chan was on the 20th floor of the building to process a few papers for her boss." She half scowled; "I bet it's for Tomoyo-chan..." her face morphed back to its earlier distressed expression then fired like a bursting gun. "Then, Sh-Shinokawa-chan told us that her boss and Tomoyo-chan didn't go to work today, because there was some sort of medical emergency and then the bodyguard ladies came and asked for the papers and it was only then did Louise-chan appeared to give them the papers..." She breathed deeply. "But then... but then..."

Spinel and Eriol arced an eyebrow. There was something unusual with Nakuru today. And no, it wasn't the way she talked like the words would come after her and eat her alive (that was normal for Nakuru, mind you). But what they meant by unusual for Nakuru was, normally, after coming from her weekly visit to Tomoyo's office, she would bounce through the door and fling herself around Eriol's neck, disregarding the fact that her master was just about to sip on his tea and was already pouring the hot liquid content on his pants, then cuddle Spinel briskly until he ghostly paled. But then, the bottom line was that normally cheerful — Spinel preferred robustly irritating — attitude was nowhere to be found...

"Is there something bothering you Nakuru-kun?" asked Eriol, burrowing his brows a bit.

"It's..." she pursed her lips, "I-It's about... Sh-Shinokawa-chan..." she stuttered. And Nakuru-kun DOES NOT stutter, unless there's something _serious _bothering her. And serious meant, she didn't break a fingernail or wore the wrong color-combination of clothes.

She REALLY. STUTTERED.

Spinel and Eriol switched glances then carefully stared at Nakuru, urging her to go on.

"Today was the first time I saw her and... and..."

"And what?" asked Spinel, impatiently.

"I felt something... and then I thought... but then she looked like..." she paused and pulled herself together before throwing in the most distressing look of the century, "I think Raven is closer to Tomoyo-chan than we originally thought." And if that wasn't serious enough to hurl their bums out of the apartment, they didn't know what serious was anymore. "And I heard Shinokawa-chan was going to Tomoyo-chan's place tonight to give the papers IF she could make it."

A pause.

Then Spinel left his book and flew towards the cordless, positioned on a table near the bookshelf. "Should I dial Daidouji-san's number to check her condition?" he stared up at them, inquiringly, "Or should we alert Sakura-san first?"

Spinel's perceptual reliability was proven yet again.

* * *

"Take THIS! And THAT! And THAT! And THAT! THAT! THAT! THAT! THAT!" Kero-chan attacked the video game console mercilessly then grinned at the sight of VICTORY on the monitor, after winning a fight against an evil giant video game boss who had an uncanny resemblance with a super annoyed chopstick-wielding Garu. "Yey! I won! I won! I won! I WON!" party poppers surrounded him as he started flying around with his Victory Mambo Dance in mid-air. It was a normal occurrence every time he won a game along with the normal request for a celebration after winning the bet he made with Fujitaka-sensei about a year ago. The final score was 100,000 to 99,999 in favor of Kero but as always, the professor, being the sunny person that he was kindly obliged him every time he won. Unfortunately for him though, Sakura was an entirely different story to be told. "I wooooooOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooon!" he performed a hip throw there, and here, and there, a little bump-n-grind there, then back again (Touya thoughtit wassomewhat disturbing, actually; he even swore he saw Yue-san turn a lighter shade of green though he doubted he'd have anything to throw up) before he spun around and saw— "Sakura-chan?" he blinked at the avid display of bright and shiny colors surrounding his mistress. 

"Tomoyo-chan is sick..." her green eyes were blank and gleaming. And immediately, Kero felt like he wanted to zoom out and bury himself, with ten tons of sweets as a supply, until the large concentrations of energy fogging the air disappears.

"Oi... Sakura?" Kero stared some more and tried to poke her out of the trance. He was on the verge of reaching out his miniature paw towards her shoulder when suddenly, her aura flared around her like hot burning flame. From the force of power present in the room, Kero was forced to prudently dive on his sleeping area with a yelp. "S-Sakura..."

He had never experienced such force before even when he was still living with Clow Reed.

"But then," she said with a small smile, "If she weren't... He wouldn't get the chance to talk with her and Tomoyo-chan wouldn't be able to realize that things are beginning to change..." the smile abruptly saddened, "she would realize... but it'd still be hard for her to accept because of..." her voice faded. The small sad smile on her lips... saddened. There was no other possible word for it. Kero thought that the sadness in her face wasn't just visible; her aura was also brimming with it and it would take more than something to make his mistress... sad.

And why was Tomoyo-chan involved?

His fur was already standing on both ends as powerful magical electricity bounced around the room. The whole of him didn't want to see Sakura sad and he knew better than to stick his nose up at something that didn't really concern him, but still... "What wouldn't Tomoyo-chan accept...?" he couldn't contain his curiosity.

"But still..." she uttered clearly, "things will change... and it's starting to happen now... For the better of all..." she smiled again, happily this time, "especially for Tomoyo-chan... and—"

The door opened with a slam.

"Sakura!" chorused a worried Yue and Touya.

Kero shot them a worried look.

Sakura blinked a few times, shook her head then returned to normal. "Yue-san?" she blinked again, a bit startled at the weird faces the two were already giving her, "Onii-chan?"

Yue and Touya cocked an interrogating eyebrow.

Heavy silence followed. And when it extended, Sakura considered the thought of calling the sword card to slice away the thickness of it all. Fortunately, Yue-san eliminated the Sword Card option when he calmly moved to kneel in front of her mistress with a sort-of worried look (or if it was in fact, worry, no one could tell the difference — except Sakura — since his face was knotted up in his normal look that bordered upon smugness and no emotions at all), "Another vision, Sakura?"

Sakura smiled at him, "I'm sorry if I startled you."

"Iie..." he shook his head. "Hiiragizawa called. Then Akizuki shrieked something about your best friend being in danger. She sounded like Spinel Sun was slitting her throat with his claws." Then Yue was heard murmuring something about it's about time that Spinel snapped at her and wished he would do more than slit her throat — something more like dragging her over the oceans as shark feed.

All but Yue sweat dropped.

"Y-Yue-san..." again, Sakura was nice enough to offer him a funny smile when she tried to twist her lips a trifle.

"I didn't know you were listening." said a half-agreeing Touya. He didn't like Akizuki but that kind of morbidity was too much, even if she often cuts off his oxygen supply.

"That idiot was screaming as if the other line was on a different dimension." explained a deadpanned Yue.

Touya sweat dropped again, "I guess that explains something."

Kero jumped out from where he was hiding, after recovering from his momentary power-shock. "Oi, Sakura..." he perched on her shoulder and placed a paw on her cheek. "Is Tomoyo-chan going to be alright?"

Sakura nodded, cheerfully, "Everything will be all right, Kero-chan."

Yue looked no different. Kero stared at her warily while Touya's mouth curled or twitched—whichever—at the sullen thought. She's the one who has foresight. No use arguing with her. But still he wished that he could be as confident as her sister, immensely, was. "Well," he snorted, "You better get going now, kaijuu." A vein swelled on Sakura's head (she was already reviewing number 98 of How To Step On Onii-Chan With the Big Card If He Ever Calls ME Monster Again) then "grr-ed" at Touya currently on serious mode once more, "I think there's really something wrong over at Tomoyo's place."

And that, thought Sakura, came from someone who had no more powers. She nodded at her brother anyway, "Are you coming, Onii-chan?"

"I wouldn't be too much of help," he smiled. "But I could stand guard for Tomoyo."

Sakura nodded again. "Then we'll wait... I'll call Syaoran-kun."

"Your brother already did." said Yue.

Touyaturned a few shades of red out of embarrassment.

"Ooh! Look at nii-chan!" jeered the plushie. "Now I know what Sakura meant when she said you and that brat had a lot in common!"

Sakura smiled at Kero. Yue wore an oddly smug-look which, Touya suspected, meant he was totally amused.

Touya yearned to grab the plush toy, strangle him good then grab its cotton-tipped tail to whirl him around in dizzying circles.

* * *

Tomoyo fluttered her eyes and blinked a couple of times before she got used to the light, emanating from a nearby lamp. 

Even with the bedside lamp, the dimness of the room made her wonder how long had she been out. She squinted at the blurry face of the clock: it was already twelve in the morning. And twelve in the morning meant, she had been out for more than twelve hours. This was the longest sleep she'd ever had since she was an infant and what people of moral character would sleep like the dead and still feel tired? She pondered for a brief while. Well, at least, when she blacked out, her mother had replaced her business suit with a pair of comfortable pajamas.

She groaned slightly then felt like something was pounding her poor head. She also noticed how unusually freezing it was in her room, even though she was already being covered by a dozen of warm blankets. The moist in her eyes were warm; and when she breathes, she realized, the air coming out from her mouth and nose were also hot. Warm wouldn't be suitable. It WAS hot.

She touched her forehead then remembered.

She had fever.

Tomoyo tried to sit up on her bed then groped her bedside table for the thermometer. Finding it was one obstacle down and she wasn't even aware of how much energy it could take out by finding something that was already lying beside you. She was really, REALLY, seriously tired, she felt she'd collapse again if she stood up. She sighed, then proceeded to what she intended to do. Tomoyo weakly raised her hands to check her temperature then boggled at the digital numbers in the indicator.

Forty-one degrees.

Was THAT even normal?

She didn't have much time to ponder on the thought since she was already aware of how many joules it required to budge even a single cell in her body. It felt vaguely like sitting on a fifty degrees preheated frying pan and being fried to a charcoaled-crisp — well, she had a nasty feeling her brain was already being fried to a crisp; and at this height, she decided, she loathed it even more. She LOATHED being sick even more and she hated not being able to do anything about it. So having no options, she gently laid her head on her pillows and hitched her head to the other side.

She blinked then smiled at what her eyes met. It was the panda that Hiiragizawa gave her.

Tomoyo scrunched her nose at the sudden, sullen thought but then, decided that it wasn't the best time to think things through. She was aware of how stubborn she could get sometimes but stubborn only meant when she was feeling fine. And right now, she admitted, she was FAR from being fine. So, instead of beating her head with something solid as she often does whenever a thought of Hiiragizawa and other stuff crossed her brain, she let the thought through. After all, it was, somehow, giving her a feeling of lightness and comfort given the temperature that she had now. It was a feeling so familiarly unsettling it sort of scared her — and comforted her at the same time. But then, she couldn't help herself from thinking, if it's familiar why was she feeling scared?

Was it because it WAS familiar?

Or was it because she knew one person should only cause it?

...Only Sakura-chan should cause it...

She shook her head and regretted it immediately when pain rippled like a dagger's business end brushing through. She had already scolded herself that it wasn't the right time for things like that. She had a fever and a nagging headache and if she continues doing what she was doing, she would never get better. And without a single doubt, her mother would go on about and imitate a bustling mother hen again. She smiled. Of course, her mother would be worried if she didn't get any better.

And Sakura-chan too if she ever finds out...

So, deciding against logic, she reached for the stuffed animal with an effort...

Then something within her snapped.

_Come..._

Tomoyo's eyes became a blank pair of iolite-colored orbs.

_Come with me... _A chuckle followed.

Her brain was washed blank. One minute she was feeling so warm then when another passed, it felt so cold. The cold was unbearable; she was feeling as if a thousand swords had suddenly pierced her skin. But even if she was aware of the cold, she couldn't think properly. She didn't know if she wanted to scream because the only thing that penetrated through her blanked state was the voice, ordering her to do what he was saying...

_Stand up, Tomoyo-san... _It was a male's voice.

She immediately got out of bed and walked towards the door that led to the balcony.

_Open the door..._

She raised her hands to the brass handle and slid the door to the sides...

* * *

"Hello, Tomoyo-san." The hooded Clow smirked as he observed Tomoyo's possessed state from the shadows of the blooming garden. Different varieties of trees, plants, flowers and bushes were rooted on the spot so it was technically easy to hide in the shadows when the need for it comes though that wasn't really the main concern. They couldn't be easily seen by non-magical beings since they won't have any means of detecting their auras but the case of a certain group of people would be another thing. 

Raven abruptly cocked her head to the side. "I think Hiiragizawa's here." she thoughtfully closed her eyes and felt for his aura, "... he's mad... determined..." a smirk crossed her lips, "Worried."

"Sakura-tachi too..." said Cyrus, grinning as he took an inch back to the shadows of the bushes and trees.

"Well..." said Clow. "I guess that was my cue to set up barriers...?" he smiled.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Nakuru was frantically running towards the others, looking as if she was about to announce this world's judgment day, with Spinel perching lightly on her shoulder. 

"Where's Eriol-kun?" asked Sakura.

"Eriol went ahead and told us to meet you." Cut in Spinel.

"He's already in there?" asked a half-annoyed Li after recovering. Kero was perching on Touya's shoulder as he stood beside an anxious-looking Yukito.

"Daidouji manor is well protected, Sakura-chan..." said Yukito, looking up the walls thoughtfully, "We can't risk being seen."

"Got any ideas?" asked Touya.

Kero shrugged at him, "Maybe we can use something from the deck, Sakura."

Sakura thought for a while then smiled when an idea graced her brain, "I got it!" she tossed up a card. "Sleep!"

Everyone stared at her, blinking confusedly and questioningly.

"Now we don't have to worry about being seen by the guards for a while. And I'll take care of the camera later." The card mistress flapped her wings and went over the walls. "Let's go!"

"Oh Sakura-chan! You're _so_ cool!" exclaimed Nakuru in delight then grinned healthily before transforming and following Sakura inside the Daidouji manor.

The other guardians followed.

* * *

From where she was standing, Raven could make out Tomoyo standing on the balcony's table, near the edge of the balustrade. The wind was playing with her hair and the moon had somehow added a touch of its mysterious glint towards Tomoyo's whole figure. A smile made its way upon Raven's lips and kept her eyes fixated at Tomoyo for a moment more, assessing the plans that lay ahead and other things. Then stared some more when she noticed something that shouldn't BE happening... 

She remained like that for a while to verify her observations until a chord in her chest was struck hard by something solid, it rang and vibrated like an enormous gong. "Hey..." her voice had the panicking quality, "Wait a minute..." she inched a step forward, letting the moon's ray grace her head as she warily stared at Tomoyo.

"Huh?" Cyrus looked after her then noticed the same thing too. "Shouldn't Tomoyo-chan..." his words faded.

The two guardians burrowed their brows. "Master..." they chorused, somewhat warningly.

"What is it?" Clow stared at Tomoyo with a measuring look then released the spell.

Cyrus, Raven and Clow's eyes widened.

She was falling from the balcony, headfirst.

* * *

Eriol felt strong magic at work. He cautiously looked around the place then saw one of the bodyguards yawn and — he arced an eyebrow —fall asleep? He thought about this for a while then felt an aura from somewhere. He smiled. It was Sakura-san. She must've summoned the Sleep Card to go around without getting caught on one of the manor's security cameras. Eriol stood up and walked around the rose bushes, cautiously feeling for the auras that had magically disappeared after he had jumped over the walls. He had a feeling his "brother" had done something to make things interesting. He frowned and cocked his head slightly upwards. 

Only to have his eyes bug out when he witnessed Tomoyo falling down the balcony...

"Tomoyo-san!" he rocketed forward, unthinkingly.

* * *

Before Cyrus and the hooded Clow could even react, a pair of black wings spread out. It was shortly followed by something black and blue, zooming forward, just before Tomoyo hit the ground with a nasty crash and — they cringed at the thought of what might have happened if one didn't had enough gram of sense in herself to live by. "Gotcha!" exclaimed Raven, slowly descending on the grass-carpeted ground with an unconscious lady lying on her arms. 

It took a while before her companions finally realized they were holding their breaths. Then, Clow moved forward, "Is she alright?" The tone of his voice was screaming worry in a deafening measurement of decibels.

Raven nodded. Then their heads shot out towards the direction where the sound of footsteps was coming from. And judging from the interval of its tapping sound, that person was dashing as fast as he could.

"He's here, Clow. I suggest you do what we came here for today..." Cyrus warned, stepping forward to nudge Tomoyo's hand in an oddly affectionate way. His eyes widened, "Hey, she's burning! She's burning! Why's she burning hot?" one had never used the word "panic" in an accurately exaggerated way as Cyrus had. He was shaking his head in a dizzying frenzy as he took alternating glances between his master and Raven for some sort of explanation.

Raven stared at Tomoyo's face then creased her brow, "Fever..." She looked up to her master, worryingly. "It's frighteningly high... Forty-one or so if I'm not mistaken..."

"WHAT?" Cyrus' tone radiated an air of horrified disbelief. "Why DIDN'T you TELL us?"

"I didn't know!" she snapped. Cyrus inched a step back with a pair of globular eyes. He had NEVER seen Raven so seriously enraged by guilt before, it scared the holy cow out of him, "She didn't go to work today and I was only aware of some medical emergency! I didn't think..." she set her jaws tightly, "I didn't think that she WAS the emergency." One could tell by the look on her face that she was ready to bang her head on something hard for doing something... well, something she didn't like. Guilt was already pouring over her like melted glaciers, slowly freezing her skin; deliberately piercing every inch of her body with something solid that was invisible even to the eyes of someone with great magic.

"Raven..." Clow rested a hand on her shoulder then smiled, "I understand..." he turned his head slightly, revealing a pair of glasses glimmering under the pale moonlight, "Eriol-kun, Sakura-san and the others are coming. We must hurry if we want to avoid contact." And with that, he removed his burnoose and handed it over to Raven, "Use this to cover her for the mean time." he smiled gently at Tomoyo then spoke, "I would do anything to accomplish the goal that had been set out for me... but under your expense, I cannot." His voice sounded apologetic. "You're an indispensable treasure, Tomoyo-san." He rested his hand on her forehead, "Forgive me... we didn't know."

"Won't you rid her of her illness?" asked Raven.

Clow smiled mysteriously, "Some things are meant to be Raven... even illnesses."

Raven looked like a little girl, waiting for punishment as Clow patted her gently on the head. She took one guilty look at Tomoyo and laid her near the tree before Cyrus pulled Clow's burnoose over her shivering body.

"Rest well, Tomoyo-chan..." said Cyrus, nudging her gently. "Eriol-kun's coming."

"I'll see you later," Raven cleared the strands out of her face before getting up on her feet then softly smiled, "Tomoyo-sama..."

* * *

Eriol was half-expecting a scene that he wouldn't like. 

He kept on praying to Kami-sama that by some miracle, Tomoyo would survive that fall. He knew it was impossible; and knowing that the impossible weighted less than the possible made his chest hurt. It was hurting so much he realized that he didn't want to think about it. It was something similar to being pounded by a hammer on the chest and you wanted it to stop badly but you couldn't because you didn't know where it was coming from or why it was there. He didn't know why the thought of Daidouji-san not being near him or just knowing that he wouldn't see Daidouji-san, diligently working in her office anymore brought so much pain. Eriol felt — KNEW something in him would break if Daidouji-san... he shook his head and ran faster until he reached the place...

His heart leapt. She wasn't where she was supposed to be lying.

He craned his neck around the grounds and saw her lying near a tree. "Daidouji-san!" he felt like he had just been splashed by a bucket of cold water when relief came. He could still feel traces of their auras but then, he realized, he couldn't care. When he looked at Tomoyo's face — alive and breathing — he couldn't care anymore. For Eriol, at that brief moment, he felt like the only thing that really mattered to him was Tomoyo. She was safe. She wasn't hurt. She was alive. And he would still continue seeing her with her threats and blackmails if ever he does something mean to Li-kun again.

Eriol felt a smile tugging on his lips as he moved a hand over her face. Then suddenly froze when he felt how weak her aura was. "You have fever..." he said then inspected the burnoose that covered her body. It was emitting traces of strangely familiar magical vibes and somehow, as he looked at it closer, the black burnoose with a silver chain suspended between two sapphire orbs on the neckline was incredibly, unsettlingly familiar. He had seen it somewhere before. "This..." he burrowed his brows and scavenged his brain for something until it hit him.

This was the hood that covered Clow's head.

"Eriol-kun!" Sakura landed and dashed towards him. "The barrier was strong. We couldn't find you until now... What happened?"

Eriol turned a look at Sakura. "I'm not sure..." he said then turned towards the burnoose, wrapped around Tomoyo's body. "But I think they didn't do anything to Daidouji-san."

"Is she alright?" Touya jumped out of Spinel's back; Li did the same, from Cerberus.

"How is she?" asked Li, inspecting Tomoyo and arching an eyebrow at the burnoose. He certainly had no trouble recognizing it.

It was Ruby Moon who first realized how weak Tomoyo's aura was. Then as she closely inspected her face under the light of the moon, she noticed how her breathing was heavy and ragged — almost panting as if she had been running for miles and miles without stopping then suddenly collapsed on her way back. She stepped forward and touched Tomoyo's forehead. "She's burning..." she looked up at Eriol with the dead-worried expression once more, "I think this was the reason why they cancelled the board meeting in Germany, Eriol." She pushed a few strands of hair away from her forehead then smiled, "Good decision too. Else she would've felt like she was trapped inside a literal country-size ice-box." Well, it WAS undeniably close to that.

Spinel suddenly made a sniffing sound then cocked his head slightly towards the shadows, "I think one of them is still around..."

"It's her..." said Yue darting piercing looks at the same place where Spinel was staring.

"Oh dear..." Ruby Moon closed her eyes as the sudden rush of aura stung her, "Her presence..." her brows burrowed, confusedly, "It's fading..." when the aura completely vanished she turned her head towards Eriol. "Did you feel it? Clow must've covered her but I'm quite sure it was TOO strong for any comfort, Eriol."

Heavy silence hung above them.

Well, at least they were spared from any more at this rate. They weren't certain what it meant but at least, they gave this day a rest for a change. The reason was unclear but somehow, Eriol had a nagging thought at the back of his head that Tomoyo's sickness had something to do with their abrupt disappearance. It was certainly uncalled for but he couldn't help himself but think of their "touching" consideration. He stared at Tomoyo thoughtfully and recalled the horrible view of her, unconsciously falling from the balcony. He pondered for a while and decided that it was a definite yes. They HAD something to do about that too, and also about breaking Tomoyo's nasty fall at the same time.

Cerberus broke the flowing silence when he took a step forward then nudged Tomoyo's hand. "I think we should clean this mess up right now, Sakura-chan." He smiled up at his mistress. "We have a long day ahead and Tomoyo-chan needs some rest."

Everyone agreed.

"One question..." Touya interrupted, earning a bunch of questioning looks, "What about those things?" he nodded at a camouflaged camera, sticking up from one of the tree branches.

Talk about horse senses.

Sakura smiled at him. "I already summoned the Sleep Card's powers so I'm SURE no one saw us." She turned towards Eriol. "We better put her to bed now Eriol-kun... she's looking ghostly pale." And upon that mark, she shuddered herself. There was something to say about people who were given colossal amounts of magical powers pulsing through their veins yet still carried the habit of freaking out by the mere thought of ghosts. It was surprising she'd somehow gotten used to seeing her mother almost everyday in their house but then again, Nadeshiko was never a normal ghost. And the thought of an actual angel gracing the Kinomoto Household had somehow brought Sakura comfort.

Well, a little at least.

"What if it's in record mode?" asked Touya, half-sarcastically.

"Onii-chan..." His sister half-whined, "I TOLD you I already thought about it! Now, wait here and we'll put Tomoyo-chan to bed!"

"Why does HE have to do it?" complained Touya, imitating Sonomi's cat-eyed glare towards a smiling Eriol.

"Because it would be an inconvenience to TRANSFER Tomoyo-chan to somebody else! And besides, Eriol-kun can use his magic to fly up towards the balcony!" snapped Sakura with a childish pout. "Come on, Eriol-kun."

And after setting and making sure that Tomoyo-chan was comfortable in her bed, Sakura-tachi went out of the Daidouji manor's walls and decided that all was a wrap. Though there was one thing the Card Mistress had to take care off before fully leaving the sidewalk with her companions.

"Remove the scenes recorded after we had jumped over the wall!" she tossed a card high up in the air...

"ERASE!"

All it took was a single flicker of light and everything was taken care of.

* * *

Tsuzuku... 

**Author's Notes:**

Eh... Updating time... Slow... I know. Gomenasai for those who waited (if there are any of course... hah. C3).

Garu is a small round-headed cartoon with a weird grin on his face. Mostly. And his love interest is Pucca. I don't know. I'm not really fond of his face but I DO think Pucca is cute. Eheh... just search the net for their faces if you're interested. And no, they don't have a TV series if ever you're wondering. C3

Clow's cloak issue... well... I haven't revealed the face under the cloak so be content in seeing his lips in your minds. Ehehe... And originally, I was considering Raven's trench coat but I guess that'd be too much attention drawn to the OC's already. At least Clow Reed properly belongs to CCS. XD hahaha... And if ever you're wondering why I didn't describe his face... you'd be surprised to know somewhere in the ending. I'm evil... kakakaka!

Vampy, I hope you're having a good time out there in the Caribbean! I'm missing your emails! Haha! But I wanna take this opportunity to thank Ari too for reading this chappie in advance. Hehe... sorry if it took so long! Love you guys so much!


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